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For Life
2004.06.17

Welcome back! Are you taking life slow and easy, as it was meant to be? With just a few more days until midsummer, it's a good time to start!

Today's LessonCATEGORY: Commonly Confused Words
BY vs. WITH   (人)によって vs.(道具)を使って

Explanation

  • If a person uses a tool to do an action, then we usually say the action was done by  the person with  the tool.

    Be careful:
    Be Careful! We usually do NOT say that an action was done by  the tool. There are, however, some special cases, such as "by  hand" and "by  phone".
  • 「人が道具を使って何かをする」と言いたいとき、"by  + 人 + with  + 道具"という言い方をするのが普通です。

    注意:
    "by  + 道具 "という言い方は普通しません。けれども例外があります:by  hand(手で)、by  phone(電話で)など

examples

  1. "War and Peace" was written by  Tolstoy.  
  2. The animal was killed by  a man with  a shotgun.
  3. Do you usually eat with  chopsticks or a knife and fork?
  4. We reserved our tickets by  phone.

Thanks for dropping by!