BY
The money is being stolen by him. (He stole the money himself)
The cake was made by my wife. (she made the cake)
My future is decided by me.
He was hit by his brother
It is a book by Machado de Assis.
For
The Money is being stolen for him. (because of him. He asked the guy to steal the money for him)
The cake was made for my wife (sb made the cake for her birthday)
It's a present for you.
Perfume for women.
Cologne for men.
I did it for you.
BY - (preposition)
1 how - by post/mail
◊ ten (multiplied) by six
◊ written by Ben
◊ I sent it by email.
2 near sb/sth:
◊Sit by me.
◊ a house by the river.
◊ I'll meet you by the post office.
3 not later than the time mentioned; before:
◊ Can you finish the work by five o’clock?
◊ I’ll have it done by tomorrow.
◊ By this time next week I’ll be in NY
◊ By the time this letter reaches you, I’ll have left the country.
4 used for showing how or in what way sth is done
◊ The house is heated by gas.
◊ May I pay by credit card?
◊ I’ll contact you by email
◊ to travel by car / bus / plane
5. Used, usually after a passive verb to show who or what does, creates or causes sth
◊ He was knocked down by a bus
◊ I was frightened by the noise.
6. used before particular nouns without ‘the’, to say that sth happens as a result of sth.
◊ They met by chance.
◊ I did it by mistake.
◊ The coroner’s verdict was ‘death by misadventure.
7. past sb/sth
◊ He walked by me without speaking.
8. during something in a particularly situation
◊ We had to read by candlelight
9 according to:
◊by my watch it’s seven-fifteen am.
10. a: little by little we gave you everything you ever dreamed of.
11. by doing something
◊ by working hard we got our wealth
◊Let me begin by saying...
[Link] something by you: to have/
[Link] and by: soon
[Link] the by – by the way
[Link] keep/put something by
◊The family put by the extra wrapping paper for next year
By is a preposition or an adverb.
By and time
We use by meaning ‘not later than’ to refer to arrangements and deadlines:
They said that the plumber would be here by Monday.
The postman is always here by 11 am.
We use by the time, meaning ‘when’, to connect an action that has happened or will have happened
before a second action. The action that happened second comes after by the time:
By the time
[action 2] you wake up, [action 1] I’ll have finished work!(
When you wake up, I will have finished work)
Not: By the time you will wake up …
Unfortunately the man had died by the time the ambulance arrived.
(When the ambulance arrived, the man had already died.)
By and the passive
When we use the passive voice, we can use a phrase with by to say who did the action:
The new street was opened by the Mayor.
The wedding cake was made by Henry’s mother.
By meaning ‘how to do something’
We use by + -ing form to describe how to do something:
By pressing this button, you turn on the alarm system. Then by entering the code 0089, you can turn it
off again.
We use by + noun to describe how someone travels or communicates, or how things are processed:
I’ll send it by email; I can send it by post as well if you wish.
Can I pay by credit card?
We say by car, by bus, by plane, etc. but if there is a determiner (e.g. a/an, the, some, my, his) before
the noun, we say in or on.( e.g.: 1. abbreviation for exempli gratia: a Latin phrase that means "for example". It can be
pronounced as "e.g." or "for example")
We went by train to Pisa.
It’s easier to get there by car. by + mode of transport
Did you travel by plane?
I’ll have to go on the 5 am train.
Barbara is travelling in Ann’s car. on/in + determiner +
Have you ever travelled in a small mode of transport
plane?
We also use by to mean ‘movement past something’:
Three people walked by the house as Henry opened the door. (They walked past the house.)
By as an adverb is often used in this sense:
Lisa waved as she went by. (She passed the house without stopping.)
By and measurements and amounts
We use by to talk about measurements, and increases and decreases in amounts:
My bedroom is just three metres by two metres!(three metres in one direction and two metres in the
other direction)
When you work part-time, you are usually paid bythe hour.
The price of fuel has increased by 12% this year.
By meaning ‘during’
We sometimes use by + day and by + night to mean ‘during the day or the night’:
He works by night and sleeps by day.
By meaning ‘written’ or ‘composed’
We use by when we talk about the writers of books, songs, poems, symphonies, etc.:
What’s the name of the latest song by U2?
This website makes works by Beethoven available free for downloading.
You will find other meanings of by in a good learner’s dictionary.
By: typical errors
We say by car, by bus, by plane etc. but if there is a determiner (e.g. a/an, the, some, his), we
say in or on:
They always travel on the bus.
Not: … by the bus.
We use by, not with, to talk about the action of something:
He got into the house by breaking the window.(action)
Not: … with breaking the window.
We use with, not by, to refer to the object or instrument that we use to do something!
He broke the window with a rock.(object/instrument) Not: … by a rock.
