Unit 128. By
Unit 128; Part A

send something by post contact somebody by phone / by email / by fax
do something by hand pay by cheque / by credit card
• Can I pay by credit card?
• You can contact me by phone, by fax or by email.
But we say pay cash or pay in cash (not by cash).
We also say by mistake / by accident / by chance:
• We hadn't arranged to meet. We met by chance.
But we say 'do something on purpose' (= you mean to do it):
• I didn't do it on purpose. It was an accident.
Note that we say by chance, by cheque etc. (not by the chance / by a cheque). In these expressions we use by + noun without the or a.
Unit 128; Part B

by car / by train / by plane / by boat / by ship / by bus / by bike etc.
by road / by rail / by air / by sea / by underground
• Joanne usually goes to work by bus.
• Do you prefer to travel by air or by train?
But we say on foot:
• Did you come here by car or on foot?
You cannot use by if you say my car / the train / a taxi etc. We use by + noun without 'a/the/my' etc. We say:
by car but in my car (not by my car)
by train but on the train (not by the train)
We use in for cars and taxis:
• They didn't come in their car. They came in a taxi.
We use on for bicycles and public transport (buses, trains etc.):
• We travelled on the 6.45 train.
Unit 128; Part C

• Have you ever been bitten by a dog?
• The programme was watched by millions of people.
Compare by and with:
• The door must have been opened with a key. (not by a key)
(= somebody used a key to open it)
• The door must have been opened by somebody with a key.
We say 'a play by Shakespeare' / 'a painting by Rembrandt' / 'a novel by Tolstoy' etc. :
• Have you read anything by Ernest Hemingway?
Unit 128; Part D
![]() ![]() • Come and sit by me. (= beside me) • 'Where's the light switch?' 'By the door.' |
Unit 128; Part E
![]() ![]() • Carl and Mike had a race over 200 metres. Carl won by about three metres. |
Exercises
![]() | Unit 127 Unit 128 Unit 129 | ![]() |