If it isn't can I get an example to show my friend? She likes to think she is a grammer pro and nitpicks mine all of the time.
![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)
From Merriam-Webster's Concise Dictionary of English UsageOut loud was once widely decried as an error for aloud, and it is still sometimes described as a colloquialism to be avoided in formal writing. Its first recorded use was in the early 19h century:
Lord Andover in the presence of Lord and Lady Suffolk and speaking out loud - Maria Edgeworth, letter, 1921 (OED Supplement)
Its heyday as an object of criticism came about a hundred years later, when American commentators such as MacCracken & Sandison 1717, Ball 1923, Woolley & Scott 1926, and Krapp 1927 routinely prescribed against it in their books. While its notoriety has dimished, it still survives as a usage topic in composition textbooks for high school and college students and in Garner 1998.
Our abundant written evidence for out loud shows clearly that it is not a colloquialism. We would agree that aloud is more likely in solemn writing (Garner says it is much more frequent), but in general use the two terms are essentially interchangeable:
She read it aloud to my classmates - Russell Baker, Growing Up, 1982
He was reading my words out loud to the entire class - Russell Baker, Growing Up, 982
... being permitted to think aloud with friends and colleagues - Bruce Dearing, CEA Forum, April 1971
... afraid to let themsedlves or others think out loud - Nehemiah Jordan, Themes in Speculative Psychology, 1968
A distinctive and exclusive use of out loud is in the idiom "for crying out loud!". It is also preferred to aloud following the verb laugh:
... Mazeppa makes him laugh out loud - Robert Craft, N. Y. Rev. of Books, 25 Feb. 1971
He laughed out loud - E. L. Doctorow, Loon Lake, 1979
I think there may be a connotation to out loud that makes it a stronger, or louder, manner than aloud, so these words are used in different situations. For instance, one of the definitions of the word out as an adverb is:aloud
ADVERB: 1. With use of the voice; orally: Read this passage aloud. 2. In a loud tone; loudly: crying aloud for help.
out loud
ADVERB: Loud enough to be audible; aloud: read the poem out loud.
For example, the statement:10. Without inhibition; boldly: Speak out.
is not as strong as the command:She read the book aloud to the class.
Read it out loud so everyone can hear!
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