Intermediate grammar · Unit 128 · B1

by

Prepositions

Use by for chance and accident, for how people travel and do things (by bus, by card), for the doer in passive sentences and the maker of a work, for next to, and for the size of a difference.

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A by mistake, by accident, by chance

Something happens by mistake / by accident / by chance.

The opposite is on purpose: you meant to do it.

In these expressions we use by + noun with no the or a. We say by chance, not "by the chance", and by accident, not "by an accident".

  • We hadn't planned it. We ended up on the same train by chance.
  • I deleted the whole file by mistake.
  • I didn't drop your phone on purpose. It slipped.

B by car, by post, by card

We use by to say how somebody travels: by car, by train, by plane, by boat, by ship, by bus, by bike, by coach.

We do not use by with my car / the train / a taxi. Instead:

General Particular vehicle
by car in my car, in a taxi
by train on the train, on the 8.10
by bus on the bus

We usually say on foot, not "by foot".

We also use by for how we do other things: send something by post, pay by card, pay by cheque, do something by hand. We say pay cash or pay in cash, not usually "by cash".

  • Imran usually gets to work by train / by bike / by car.
  • They didn't come in their own car. They came in a taxi.
  • We came on the 7.40 from Leeds, which was only ten minutes late.
  • Did you get here by bus or on foot?
  • Can I pay by card?
  • I'll send the contract by post.
  • All the furniture in the shop is made by hand.

C done by somebody: the passive, and works by artists

In passive sentences, by introduces the person or thing that does the action.

Compare by and with. With is the tool; by is whoever, or whatever, used it.

We also say a novel by Dickens, a song by the Beatles, a painting by Turner.

  • Have you ever been stung by a jellyfish?
  • The final was watched by twelve million people.
  • The lock must have been opened with a screwdriver. (not by a screwdriver)
  • The lock must have been opened by somebody with a screwdriver.
  • Have you read anything by the Brontës?
  • "Who's this song by?" "No idea. It's been stuck in my head all week."

D by = next to

by can also mean next to or beside.

  • The fuse box is by the back door.
  • Come and sit by me. (= next to me)

E by for the size of a difference

We use by to show the difference between two amounts or results.

  • The price of a season ticket has gone up by fifteen per cent. (= it is now fifteen per cent more)
  • Bethan won the race by two seconds. (= she finished two seconds ahead of the others)
  • Our team lost by a single point.

Exercises

128.1 Complete the sentences. Choose from the box.

by mistakeby handby cardby chanceby texton purpose

  1. I haven't got any cash on me. Can I pay by card?

    I haven't got any cash on me. Can I pay by card?

  2. Gemma and her sister don't often ring each other. They mostly keep in touch .

  3. Sorry, I didn't mean to take your keys. I picked them up .

  4. I'm sure she left the gate open . She knows the dog always gets out.

  5. We didn't arrange to meet. We just ran into each other in the supermarket.

  6. Don't put that tablecloth in the machine. It has to be washed .

128.2 Put in by, in or on.

byinon

  1. Imran usually goes to work by train.

    Imran usually goes to work by train.

  2. I saw your brother this morning. He was the bus to Hull.

  3. How did you get to Aberdeen? Did you go plane?

  4. I had to stand all the way to London. There wasn't a single seat the train.

  5. How much does it cost to get to the station taxi?

  6. Shall we go your car or mine?

  7. The woman who fell off the ladder was taken to hospital ambulance.

  8. How long does it take to get to the Isle of Wight ferry?

  9. Rosie hasn't got a car. She gets around bike or foot.

128.3 Complete the sentences. Choose from the box.

by midgesby our goalkeeperby a falling treeby Elgarby a car alarmby J.M.W. Turnerby a professional photographer

  1. I was kept awake half the night by a car alarm.

    I was kept awake half the night by a car alarm.

  2. Our wedding photos were taken .

  3. Camping in Scotland is lovely, but you get bitten .

  4. "The Fighting Temeraire" is a famous painting .

  5. We lost the cup final because of a silly mistake .

  6. The shed was badly damaged during the storm, but nobody was hurt.

  7. This piece is , but I can't remember what it's called.

128.4 Put in by, in, on or with.

byinonwith

  1. Have you ever been chased by a goose?

    Have you ever been chased by a goose?

  2. We put the chip pan fire out a damp tea towel.

  3. Who's that woman sitting the fire?

  4. Do you travel much coach?

  5. We went to Devon my uncle's car, because ours has no boot to speak of.

  6. It was purely chance that I found the missing ring.

  7. These photos were taken an old film camera.

  8. My aunt has a little cottage a lake in Cumbria.

  9. There were hardly any passengers the ferry. It was almost empty.

  10. The new bypass will cut the journey time twenty minutes (from fifty minutes to thirty).

  11. There was a chair the window a cushion and a blanket it.

128.5 Complete the sentences using by.

  1. Bethan won the race. She finished two seconds ahead of the other runners. (Bethan won ...)

    Bethan won by two seconds.

    Bethan won by two seconds.

  2. Five years ago the town had 40,000 people. Now it has 44,000. (In the last five years the population has ...)

  3. There was a vote for club captain. Aled got 31 votes and Dafydd got 28. (Aled won ...)

  4. I ran to the bus stop, but the bus had left two minutes before I got there. (I missed ...)

See also