What are the differences between "to start off" and " start out" ?
I think they have a common sense which is "to begin to do something" but apparently also they have some unique usages.
Do you think they are interchangeable in the following sentences I excerpted from Oxford Dictionaries.
1.She started out on her legal career in 2008.
2.When the band started out, they couldn't afford much equipment.
3.I started out to write a short story, but it soon developed into a
novel.4.The discussion started off mildly enough.
5.Let's start off with some gentle exercises.
6.We started off by introducing ourselves.
7.I started off working quite hard, but it didn't last.
8.Start out by accessing your list of Applications from your Androids
Home screen.
I read this thread about "start vs start off" and the answer is very good but that question does not overlap my question.
Best Answer
That is a good question. In pretty much all your cases, they could be interchanged, but would feel very slightly different.
One typically "starts off" on a journey - conveying a feeling of movement. One can also "start out" on a journey, but it feels more like the point in time when you began rather than pointing at the whole journey itself.
In #1, by using starting out, it points to the fact that the career had just begun - time reference, not necessarily to the length of time.
Again, #2 and #3 points to time.
#4, puts more feeling to the discussion as a whole, not that it had just begun. #5, again, whole exercise experience here, also implying that things will change over time. #6,#7, Journey and contrasting beginning to end with statements.
The last one: "Start out by accessing your list..." again is pointing to a specific point in time - when is being emphasised more than what you are doing.
Interchanging "off" for "out" on the above are all still valid, but changes (and only slightly) where the writer wanted the focus.
This is all personal conjecture here and I welcome other opinions. I really had to think hard about each reading to get a feel for the difference here, which should give you an idea of how subtle this topic is.