8 Ways to Use the

Preposition “by”

The word “by” is very

common in English. It can be used in lots of
different situations and contexts. It is mostly
used as a preposition but it can also in fact be
used as an adverb. In this article, I explain the
common uses of “by” as a preposition.

“by” + place
The meaning is: beside, at the side of, next to,
close to

examples:

 The house is by a river.

 David lives by a train station.
 I would love to live in a house by the sea.

“by” + method of transport

This structure describes how you travel
somewhere.
by + train
car
boat
plane
taxi
bus
coach

examples:

 David went to Manchester by train.

 I go to work by car.
 My parents often go to France by boat.
 Our children have never travelled by plane
before.

“by” + method of
communication
This structure describes how you communicate
with someone.
by + telephone
post
email
fax

examples:

 I spoke to her by telephone.

 I will send you the invoice by post.
 Please confirm the order by email.

“by” + method of payment

This structure describes how you pay for
something.
by + credit card
 cheque

examples:

 We paid for the computer by cheque.

 Can I pay by credit card?

Note that we do not use “by” for cash

payments. We use the preposition “in”:

 David paid in cash for the newspaper.

It is also possible to omit the preposition

completely, particularly in spoken English:

 David paid cash for the newspaper.

“by” and the passive

In the passive voice, “by” indicates WHO is
doing the action.

First, let’s look at a sentence using the active

voice:

 David is cleaning the kitchen.

In the above sentence, “David” is the person

doing the action. When we convert this
sentence to the passive voice, we say:

 The kitchen is being cleaned by David.

Here are some more examples. These are in the

past tense:
  Sarah wrote the book. (active)
The book was written by Sarah. (passive)
 Our school organised the concert. (active)
The concert was organised by our
school. (passive)

“by” + reflexive pronoun

by + myself
yourself
himself, herself, itself
ourselves
yourselves
themselves

This structure means to do something alone.

examples:

 I enjoy reading by myself.

 Sarah is studying by herself.
 Let’s do something by ourselves.
 My parents often go on holiday by
themselves.

“by” + -ING verb

This structure describes how to do something.
It gives us more information about how to
achieve a particular result.

example:

 You can turn on the radio by pressing that

button.

question:
How can I turn on the radio?
answer:
by pressing the button

The phrase “pressing the button” describes how

to do something (how to turn on the radio).

“by” + time expression

The meaning of this structure is: not later
than; before or at a particular time

We use this structure for deadlines. A deadline

is the time before which something must be
done.

examples:

 Guests must vacate their hotel rooms by 11

am.
 Please send us the payment by tomorrow.
 Students must enrol by the end of June.

You may also like:

1. Writing Prompt ~ Passive Voice

2. 7 ways to have a conversation
exchange
3. Writing Prompt ~ The Little Guy
4. 6 Ways to Cut Wordiness for More
Effective Writing
Written by Andrew Forrester for
EnglishClub May 2017
Andrew obtained the TESOL qualification in
2003 and has many years’ teaching experience.
He is the owner of CrownAcademyEnglish.

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23 Comments on 8 Ways to Use the

Preposition “by”
1. Yelena Hopper says:
17 October 2017 at 08:32

Thanks for sharing your wealthy

information.I get a help from your article.
If you want to know about it, you should go
through preposition phrase.It is helpful to
you.

2. Sabiratou SALAMI says:

17 October 2017 at 04:03

useful thank you

3. GR says:
22 August 2017 at 11:25

Wow!
This webpage describes “How to use “by””
so easily and clearly for beginner.

Thanks so much.

4. Victor C says:
1 July 2017 at 16:52
 Awesome

5. jose says:
13 June 2017 at 05:27

Very useful topic about the way of using the

preposition By in a contex.

6. jose says:
13 June 2017 at 05:26

It is very useful to learn how to manage

these 8 applications of BY preposition,
thanks

7. Vicky Llorente says:

6 June 2017 at 16:33

Hello:
Thanks for this interesting article; it was
very useful for me.
I hope to continue receiving more articles
like this.

Vicky

8. Vicky Llorente says:

6 June 2017 at 16:29

Hello:

Thanks for this interesting article; it was

very useful for me.
I hope to continue receiving articles like
this.
9. Roman Tcymbal says:
6 June 2017 at 10:24

That’s good deal!

Roman!

10. vajira says:

6 June 2017 at 10:03

sir,
i m relay interesting to learn grammar.
Avery day i watch your video clip. its so
interesting. every day i,ll practice it.

thank you.
vajira

11. abouabdelmajid says:

6 June 2017 at 09:40

very clear and helpfull

12. Romanita says:

3 June 2017 at 04:39

Very helpfull

13. Bander says:

31 May 2017 at 19:13

Great!!
This kind of article will help alot of people to
understand the using of by.
I realy enjoyed with the way you explain
 this article.
Thanks alot English club.

14. Arif Kamal khan says:

27 May 2017 at 03:23

It was a productive article.we enjoyed

reading it .Thanks to both of you for writing
such an exceptional and worth reading
articles.

15. Anita says:

25 May 2017 at 13:33

@Paul Adams
“Come by” and “drop by” are perfectly good
English but I think the “by” here is an
adverb not a preposition. Prepositions have
objects. In your examples the “by” qualifies
the verb 🙂

16. Don AVE says:

25 May 2017 at 12:22

THank you Mr Josef,Mr Andrew and English

Club as a whole. i really appreciate it.

17. Kien says:

25 May 2017 at 04:15

It is useful. So i hope that i will be get more

great guidances from you. Thank you so
much!
Kien Doan
18. Rahul says:
24 May 2017 at 18:05

You can also say

What’s the time by your watch?

19. Bijan says:

24 May 2017 at 10:33

Greetings,
Wow!
It is very nice lesson. I myself had many
problems for using “by” as a preposition.
I had never seen like this lesson in any
website.
Thanks to English Club for presenting these
beautiful lessons.
Thanks to Sir Josef for sending me emails
about these lessons.

I hope Sir Josef to visit IRAN one day and

take him to historical places of my country
like Persepolis.

Best wishes,
Bijan from The Persian Gulf,

20. Elias Gasparini says:

24 May 2017 at 09:38

Great for students as well as for teachers.

I must just thank you!

21. Paul Adams says:

24 May 2017 at 06:55

While reading the description of the article,

I tried to think about various uses.

Having read it, I realised that I know of one

use that was not directly covered. It relates
to first use, but lacks the actual place, or
splits the place from the occurrence of “by”.

Examples:
. Why don’t you drop by and see for
yourself?
. I will be at home, if you want to come by.

Given how confusing this construct must

appear to non-English speakers, I thought
that it was worth mentioning.

Having written this, I have realised that the

expression “come by” itself has at least two
meanings.

The first is as shown in the second example

above, meaning “come to where I am”.

The second means to acquire or obtain,

which seems to relate to the meaning of
“near”:

Examples:
. I will give it to you if I come by one.

I am not certain that this use is “good

English”, but it is certainly used on
occasions.
 22. Lorena says:
24 May 2017 at 06:52

Great examples, clear and understandable.

I have a better idea about how to use the
preposition “by”.

Thank you

Lori

23. John Smith says:

24 May 2017 at 05:55

I like the style. It’s clear, easy to

understand and to pass on to others in the
classroom and elsewhere.

Thank you,

JS

Let us have your ideas:

==============
Prepositions of Time -
at, in, on
We use:

 at for a PRECISE TIME

 in for MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS
 on for DAYS and DATES
 in
at MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG on
PRECISE TIME PERIODS DAYS and DATES

at 3 o'clock in May on Sunday

at 10.30am in summer on Tuesdays

at noon in the summer on 6 March

at dinnertime in 1990 on 25 Dec. 2010

at bedtime in the 1990s on Christmas Day

at sunrise in the next century on Independence

Day

at sunset in the Ice Age on my birthday

at the in the past/future on New Year's Eve

moment

Look at these examples:

 I have a meeting at 9am.

 The shop closes at midnight.
  Jane went home at lunchtime.
 In England, it often snows in December.
 Do you think we will go to Jupiter in the future?
 There should be a lot of progress in the next century.
 Do you work on Mondays?
 Her birthday is on 20 November.
 Where will you be on New Year's Day?

Notice the use of the preposition of time at in the following standard expressions:

Expression Example

at night The stars shine at night.

at the weekend* I don't usually work at the weekend.

at Christmas*/Easter I stay with my family at Christmas.

at the same time We finished the test at the same time.

at present He's not home at present. Try later.

*Note that in some varieties of English people say "on the weekend" and "on
Christmas".

Notice the use of the prepositions of time in and on in these common expressions:

in on
in the morning on Tuesday morning

in the mornings on Saturday mornings

in the afternoon(s) on Sunday afternoon(s)

in the evening(s) on Monday evening(s)

When we say last, next, every, this we do not also use at, in, on.

 I went to London last June. (not in last June)

 He's coming back next Tuesday. (not on next Tuesday)
 I go home every Easter. (not at every Easter)
 We'll call you this evening. (not in this evening)

For a full list of prepositions plus examples and quizzes, you may like
this PDF ebook, English Prepositions Listby EnglishClub founder Josef Essberger.

 94 one-word prepositions and 56 complex prepositions

 400 example sentences
 200 quiz questions, with answers
 illustrated
 immediate download to your computer
 read on your computer or print out on paper
 runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android
==============
=====
Prepositions of Place
Prepositions of place describe the position of a person or thing in relation to another
person or thing.

Look at this picture:

Now look at these example sentences based on the prepositions in the picture:

There is a cup on the table.

The helicopter hovered above the house.
The police placed a sheet over the body.
He stood in front of the door and rang the bell.
Ram sat beside Tara.
A small stream runs below that bridge.
He put the key under the doormat.
He put his hands behind his back.
 For a full list of prepositions plus examples and quizzes, you may like
this PDF ebook, English Prepositions Listby EnglishClub founder Josef Essberger.

 94 one-word prepositions and 56 complex prepositions

 400 example sentences
 200 quiz questions, with answers
 illustrated
 immediate download to your computer
 read on your computer or print out on paper
 runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android

=======================
==
Preposition Rule
There is one very simple rule about prepositions. And, unlike most rules, this rule has
no exceptions.

Rule: A preposition is followed by a "noun". It is never followed by a verb.

By "noun" we include:

 noun (dog, money, love)

 proper noun (name) (Bangkok, Mary)
 pronoun (you, him, us)
 noun group (my first job)
 gerund (swimming)

A preposition cannot be followed by a verb. If we want to follow a preposition by a

verb, we must use the "-ing" form which is really a gerund or verb in noun form.

Quick Quiz: In the following sentences, why is the preposition "to" followed by a
verb? That should be impossible, according to the rule that you have just read.
  I would like to go now.
 She used to smoke.
See answer

Here are some examples:

subject + verb preposition "noun" note

The food is on the table. noun

She lives in Japan. proper noun

Tara is looking for you. pronoun

The letter is under your blue book. noun group

Pascal is used to English people.

She isn't used to working. gerund

I ate before coming.

For a full list of prepositions plus examples and quizzes, you

may like this PDF ebook, English Prepositions Listby EnglishClub founder Josef
Essberger.
  94 one-word prepositions and 56 complex prepositions
 400 example sentences
 200 quiz questions, with answers
 illustrated
 immediate download to your computer
 read on your computer or print out on paper
 runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android
========================================================

Six Preposition Rules

Prepositions form a small but very important word class. We

use prepositions very frequently used. In fact, the prepositions to, of, in, for, on, with,
at, by, from are all in the top 25 words in English. If you can understand and correctly
use prepositions, it will greatly improve your fluency. And remember, there are not
very many prepositions. There are only 150 prepositions and we only use about 70 of
these commonly. The following rules will help you understand and use prepositions
correctly.

1. A preposition must have an object

All prepositions have objects. If a "preposition" does not have an object it is not a
preposition—it's probably an adverb. A preposition always has an object. An
adverb never has an object. Look at these example sentences:

 They are in the kitchen. (preposition in has object the kitchen)

Please come in. (adverb in has no object; it qualifies come)
 There was a doorway before me. (preposition before has object me)
I had never seen it before. (adverb before has no object; it qualifies seen)
 I will call after work. (preposition after has object work)
He called soon after. (adverb after has no object; it qualifies called)

2. pre-position means place before

The name “preposition” indicates that
a preposition(usually) comes before something (its object):

 I put it in the box.

But even when a preposition does not come before its object, it is
still closely related to its object:
  Who did you talk to? / I talked to Jane.

3. A pronoun following a preposition should

be in object form
The noun or pronoun that follows a preposition forms a ‘prepositional object’. If it is
a pronoun, it should therefore be in the objective form (me, her, them), not subjective
form (I, she, they):

 This is from my wife and me.

 That’s between him and her.
 Mary gave it to them.

4. Preposition forms
Prepositions have no particular form. The majority of prepositions are one-word
prepositions, but some are two- or three-word phrases known as complex-
prepositions:

 one-word prepositions (before, into, on)

 complex prepositions (according to, but for, in spite of, on account of)

5. to preposition and to infinitive are not the

same
Do not confuse the infinitive particle “to” (to sing, to live) with the preposition “to”
(to London, to me).

to as preposition

 I look forward to lunch

I look forward to seeing you
I look forward to see you
 They are committed to the project.
They are committed to keeping the price down.
They are committed to keep the price down.
 I am used to cars.
I am used to driving.
I am used to drive.

to as infinitive particle

 They used to live in Moscow.

 They love to sing.
6. The golden preposition rule
A preposition is followed by a "noun". It is NEVER followed by a verb.

Read more about this important preposition rule here.

For a full list of prepositions plus examples and quizzes, you may like
this PDF ebook, English Prepositions Listby EnglishClub founder Josef Essberger.

 94 one-word prepositions and 56 complex prepositions

 400 example sentences
 200 quiz questions, with answers
 illustrated
 immediate download to your computer
 read on your computer or print out on paper
 runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android