Some of them had been torn off in any case.
He knew exactly how to tear off a small piece.
If her arms were not torn off by the force.
A body is found under the bed with its head torn off.
Both were torn off by hand at more or less the same point in the story.
The third thing he had done was to try to tear it off.
He could quite well see that the man didn't want them tearing off to the police.
Then they turned about and tore off at top speed.
He was about to go tearing off to spread the news.
The day was coming when they'd wait for him in his living room while he tore off a piece with something like that.