WITH Vs BY

WITH Vs BY 

Hi guys, I'm Nouhaila from Speaking English With Nouha  and in today’s lesson, we will review these two prepositions. Now, if you're a little confused by the prepositions, that's quite normal! Wait a second, I could also say: if you are frustrated by the prepositions, you are certainly not alone. It's a little difficult, isn't it? Are both sentences correct? Does the meaning change? So these two sentences are perfectly fine, but let us learn a little more about how to use these small but important prepositions in English correctly. Behave yourself!

The prepositions are, well, they're just a bunch of annoying little fools! These are such tiny words, but they have a significant influence on your sentence. When used correctly, they can make your English sound more advanced. They can help you look more natural and fluid when you speak, which is of course exactly what you are aiming for.

But if they are not used properly, these errors are quite obvious to Anglophones. And these errors actually reduce the quality of your English. And sometimes it can also mean that you are misunderstood - the meaning is not clear. So you probably know that there are many prepositions in English. in, on, on, on, by, between, more, less, for... I could go on, but you get the point.

In fact, when you have the opportunity, you can consult this reading list here, it's full of my lessons on prepositions.

One of the problems my students have with the prepositions of their own mother tongue is that they don't translate perfectly into English, so they end up using a bad preposition and it becomes a bit of a habit, right? This is why it is really important to study and put the prepositions into practice in their context, so it is important to use books, blog posts and other texts. These are really great places to really try to understand the prepositions in English and see them, how they are used naturally.

In this lesson, I will review the prepositions "with" and "by". We will therefore discuss the general rules and uses of each of these prepositions. We will also discuss how both could be used in the same sentence.

with

Cool! So let's start with "with". "With" can therefore mean all these things as a preposition. But let's start with the first one for now. You can use "with" when you talk about people or things together. So if you're with someone, you're probably in the same place as them.

I was with Laura yesterday.

This means that I was physically in the same place as Laura yesterday. Now, they can be people or objects, so that two objects or things that are with each other are also together.

So "with" means physically in the same place. However, there is one exception: this is an informal but very common use. Two people who are together or together, it actually means that they are in a love relationship or that they are dating.

BY

All right, let's look at the preposition "by". Now it can be used to talk about general proximity. So, to show that someone is close or close to something else. And that usually means that this thing is right next to or next to something else.

Where did you park the car? I parked by the hotel.

All right? So that means I parked near the hotel. My car is very close to the hotel. It's probably right next door.

Laura has an alarm clock by her bed to help her wake up in time.
he wants to live near by the beach one day!

So it's pretty easy, right? Now, there's a very tiny thing you have to remember here. When "by" is used with a verb that shows a movement, it describes the movement past a person, place or thing. So, "by" with a verb of movement shows us that something is moving on to something else.

we passed by your home this afternoon, but we couldn't see you.

So, here, "walk" is a verb that shows movement, right? So I walked past your office, we walked through your office.

Now we also use "by" to set a time limit. Thus, when "by" is used over time, it means at the latest a certain time.














thank you for reading this, if you enjoyed the lesson say something or just  Hi in the comments and if you have any question or suggestion to the next lesson put them in the comments and I’m gonna answer to all of your questions

See you soon in some new vocabulary words lesson.