介词by的用法
某件事情的发生可以用by mistake / by accident / by chance:
We hadn’t arranged to meet. We met by chance.
但我们说‘do something on purpose’ (= you mean to do it):
I didn’t do it on purpose. It was an accident.
注意我们说 by chance, by accident etc. (not by the chance / by an accident).
上面的表达中为by 名词，不要带冠词 the 或 a.
我们可以用by 名词表达交通方式：
by car by train by plane by boat by ship by bus by bike 等.
Jess usually goes to work by bus / by bike / by car.
若我们说my car/ the train/a taxi等，我们不用by:
而是用 in my car (not by my car)
不是by train 而是 on the train (not by the train)
They didn’t come in their car. They came in a taxi.
We travelled on the 6.45 train, which arrived at 8.30.
此外步行用on foot(not usually by foot):
Did you come here by car or on foot?
我们也用by来表示我们如何做其他事情。例如，你可以说:
send something by post ,pay by card / by cheque do something by hand
Can I pay by credit card?
但我们会说pay cash 或 pay in cash (not usually by cash).
By还用于被动语态:
Have you ever been bitten by a dog?
The programme was watched by millions of people.
比较 by 与 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.
我们说: a play by Shakespeare, a painting by Rembrandt, a novel by Tolstoy etc.
Have you read any poems by Shakespeare?
‘Who is this painting by? Picasso?’ ‘I have no idea.’
By 也有 ‘next to / beside’的含义:
The light switch is by the door.
Come and sit by me. (= next to me)
by还可以用于表达两件事的差别：
Clare’s salary has increased by ten per cent.
(= it’s now ten per cent more than before)
Carl won the race by five metres.
(= he was five metres in front of the other runners)
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