Microsoft Word’s clarity and conciseness checker keeps giving and I keep not being able to ignore it. In two documents recently, it suggested changing in the course of to during and made out of to made from.
The first problem is that both phrases were part of larger units with different grammatical structures. In the course of was part of a sentence like “The applicant enrolled in the course of study”, which is clearly [enrolled [in [the course of study]]] (compare enrolled in Linguistics 101), and which clearly can’t be changed to “The applicant enrolled during study”. Made out of was part of a sentence like “The application was made out of time”, which is clearly [made [out of time]] (compare made late), and which clearly can’t be changed to “The application was made from time”.
The second problem is that in the course of occurs in slightly different structures than during. I can say in the course of my linguistics study or during my linguistics study. I can say in the course of studying linguistics, but not during studying linguistics (but I can say while studying linguistics). In other words, in the course of can be followed by NP or V-ing, while during can be followed by NP but not V-ing. Most of the time, gerunds behave like nouns, but not always.
The third problem is that there is nothing wrong with in the course of or made out of. In the course of my linguistics study might mean that I undertook a course in linguistics, while during my Korean study might mean that I have studied (mostly ineffectively) by myself. Made from, made of, made out of and made with have subtle differences. This page attempts to explain it, but I’m not totally convinced, especially with, relevantly, made out of and made from. Its example of The earliest canoes were made from tree trunks could easily be made out of; likewise made out of wine bottles could be made from wine bottles. To me, if there is a difference, it is that made from is slightly more formal and applicable over time and space (The earliest canoes were made from tree trunks), while made out of is slightly less formal and more likely to be ad hoc (We made a canoe out of a tree trunk).
My editorial job does not involve changing what the legal officer has written, so I didn’t have to decide.
Never Pure and Rarely Simple 