Prepositional Phrases with BY

Preposition Definition

A preposition is a word that tells you how words are related in a sentence. It could often follow a verb, but it does not always. The example of the frog and a log can tell you a lot of them, but those are only one of two categories of prepositions.

In fact, there are two types of prepositions: ones that tell about the place and ones that tell about time and time order.

Prepositional Phrase With BY

By (any) chance	By accident
By air	By air/ sea/ land
By all accounts	By all means
By any standard	By appointment
By auction	By birth
By bus/ train/ plane	By chance
By check	By cheque
By coincidence	By courtesy of
By day/ night	By definition
By degrees	By design
By desing	By dint of
By far	By force
By hand	By heart
By invitation	By land
By law	By luck
By marriage	By means of
By mistake	By my watch
By nature	By no means
By now	By oneself
By one’s side	By order of
By phone	By post
By process of	By profession
By reason of	By request
By rights	By sea
By sight	By surprise
By the arm/ hand	By the name of
By the side of	By the time
By the way	By virtue of
By way of	By word of mouth

Prepositional Phrase Examples with BY

• The discovery was made almost by accident.

• They detect the presence of carrion by sight.

• The band are playing this song by request of the Queen.

• The boss retains enormous influence by reason of his position.

• They like to do business by phone / over the phone.

• The policeman took the burglar by surprise as he opened the window.

• Admission to the exhibition will be by invitation only.

• The law firm is all-female, though not by design.

• Payments can be made by cheque or in cash.

• By all accounts he leads a life of considerable luxury.

• George I and George II were Germans by birth.

• The property can only be viewed by appointment.

• A clinic for women would, by definition, deal with pregnancy and childbirth.
  

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES WITH BY MEANING AND EXAMPLES

Prepositional phrase	Meaning	Example
By accident	Unintentionally; by chance	I found my ring by accident when tidying the wardrobe.
By all accounts	According to what people say	I’ve made enquiries, and by all accounts this is the best hotel in the area.
By all means	Of course;  certainly	If you’d like a copy you may have one by all means.
By and by	After a short while; eventually	You will get used to the lifestyle by and by.
By and large	In general; on the whole	By and large our trip was very enjoyable.
By appointment	You must arrange a time  beforehand	In the off-season you can visit the castle by appointment.
By chance	Unintentionally; without plan or intent	He met her by chance in a bookshop.
By degrees	Gradually; little by little	She adapted to her new environment by degrees.
By hand	By a person, not a machine	The dresses and jackets are embroidered by hand.
By heart	By memorisation	At school we had to learn multiplication tables by heart.
By invitation (only)	Only possible if you receive an invitation.	It’s strictly private. Membership is by invitation only.
By law	A rule that is legally imposed.	Restaurants are required by law to display their prices outside.
By mistake	Not deliberately; in error.	The letter was sent by mistake to the wrong address.
By nature	Inborn or hereditary characteristics	She is optimistic by nature. She always sees the bright side of things.
By no means	Not at all	It is by no means easy to adapt to a new country.
By now	Before this moment	Dad’s getting worried. Lucy should be home by now.

Read More:

Prepositional Phrases List and Examples	Prepositional Phrases with OUT
Prepositional Phrases with FOR	Prepositional Phrase List With AT