Question

有个英语问题死活想不明白

Occasionally, unusual creatures are washed to the shore, but they are rarely caught out at sea. 用caught out
Some time ago, however, a peculiar fish was caught near Madagascar. 为什么不用caught out

Answer 1

Hi,不用这么纠结。语言的魅力是无穷的，不局限于那些既定的语法，固定的词组，而是根据上下文的语境自由的运用。
第一个句子：
Occasionally, unusual creatures are washed to the shore, but they are rarely caught out at sea. 用caught out
根据语境，我们可以判断 are washed to the shore 意思为被水冲到海边（从而被人们看到，知晓有这一类的生物）。这里用caught out ，意为被人类抓住并且带出水面，其中的out，特别强调是人类抓住它们，进而人类发现它们的存在。

Some time ago, however, a peculiar fish was caught near Madagascar. 为什么不用caught out。
a peculiar fish was caught 。强调的是捉住的这个结果。不用特意来表明将它们带出水面。