By

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.)

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.

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.

When we say by + myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves, it means ‘alone’. We sometimes use all for emphasis:

They painted the whole house by themselves! (They did it alone.)

I was all by myself in the house last night but I didn’t mind. (I was alone.)

Did you build that castle all by yourself? (Did you do it alone?)

We use by to mean ‘beside’ or ‘at the side of’:

There’s a lovely café by the river. We could go there. (The café is beside the river.)

By and near have a similar meaning but by refers to a shorter distance:

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.)

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 by the hour.

The price of fuel has increased by 12% this year.

We sometimes use by + day and by + night to mean ‘during the day or the night’:

He works by night and sleeps by day.

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.

• 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.