Run out means to be used up or come to an end: time, patience, money or supplies can run out. The second meaning is to expire, used for documents or agreements: my visa runs out in May.
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time/money/patience + run out (no object); contract/passport/lease + run out (expire)
- We had to stop the game because time ran out.
- My patience finally ran out after the third delay.
- Our lease runs out at the end of March, so we need to start looking for a new flat.
What changed
First versionWe couldn't see the whole exhibition because time ran out of.
RevisionWe couldn't see the whole exhibition because time ran out.
Run out doesn't need of when the subject itself names the thing that's running out: time ran out, not time ran out of. With of, the sentence works differently — the subject is a person, and the thing that's used up comes after of: we ran out of time.
In its second sense, run out is the everyday way of saying 'expire': My passport runs out next year. Formal writing usually prefers expire instead: The contract expires on 31 March.
Your turn
After an hour on hold, his patience finally ___ and he hung up.
Show the answer
ran out — Patience is already named at the start of the sentence — his patience — so what follows is just ran out. Of is only needed when the thing that's used up comes after it: he ran out of patience.
Describe a situation where you or someone else ran out of time, patience or money. Say what caused it.
Our money ran out halfway through the trip because we'd booked expensive hotels for the first week.
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