介词By的8种用法

单词by在英语中非常常见，在很多情况和语境下都有它的出现。大多数时候by是作为介词使用，但也可以当做副词使用。在这篇文章中，我来说说by作为介词最常见的几种用法。

“by” + place

Here it means: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 describeshow 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 describeshow 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 describeshow 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” indicatesWHO 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: