Learn English: BY or WITH?

Video Description

*Update:* (May 8, 2025) Check out the brand new REMAKE of this video! https://youtu.be/gix9O_sjEzo Do you learn WITH Emma or BY Emma? Both "by" and "with" can explain how we do something. But if you don't know which to use, don't worry... you will by the end of this video! I'll show you the key grammatical differences between these words, as well as what sentence structure to use with each, so that you can use 'by' and 'with' correctly in your spoken and written English. Once you understand the difference, I don't think you'll confuse them ever again! Test yourself at http://www.engvid.com/learn-english-by-or-with/ after the lesson to see if you can get 10/10! TRANSCRIPT Hello. My name is Emma, and in today's video I am going to answer your questions on: What is the difference between "by" and "with"? Many students make mistakes with "by" and "with", so in today's lesson I'm hoping to help you with this so you won't make so many mistakes and you'll understand: What are the differences between these two words? Okay, so to start with I have here some questions. I want you to think: Which ones are correct and which ones are not correct? I also want you to think which sentences... Why are they correct? Okay? So, why are they correct and why are they incorrect? So my first sentence: "I learn English by watching engVid." Compare this to: "I learn English with watching engVid." Which one do you think is the correct form? Do we use "by" or do we use "with"? Okay. If you said: "I learn English by watching engVid." you are correct. Okay? And I will explain why in the next part of this video. So: "I learn English with watching engVid." no, we don't use that. Okay, so what about the next two? "I write with a pen.", "I write by a pen." Which one do you think is the correct sentence, and which one is incorrect and why? Okay, if you said: "I write with a pen." you are correct. In this case this is the correct one. And: "I write by a pen." this is-enh-incorrect. So, before we talk about some of the differences, let's talk about the similarities. How are "by" and "with" the same? Well, they both answer the question: How? Okay? So they're both the answer to the question: How? How do you learn English? I learn English by watching engVid. I learn English by reading my dictionary every night. That's probably not a good idea, but I learn English by talking to people. Okay? So that's answering how you do something. Similarly with "with", it also answers the question: How? How do you write? Well, I write with a pen. How do you eat dinner? I eat dinner with a fork. Okay? Or I eat dinner with chopsticks. So they both answer the same question: How? But they are a little bit different, so let's look at these differences now. Okay, so let's look at some example sentences with "by". "I turn on the computer by pushing the on button." Okay? So this is, again, answering the question: How? How do you turn on the computer? Well, I turn on the computer by pushing the on button. I want you to take a moment to look at this sentence. What comes after "by"? We have here "pushing". "Pushing" is a verb. Okay? So I'm just going to underline this. So we often use... After "by" we often have a verb when we're explaining how something is done. Let's look at another example. "I keep healthy by exercising." So, again, after "by" you'll notice we have a verb: "exercise". Okay? In this case it's "exercising". So, one of the first things to notice is after "by" we often have a verb. I have here: "by verb", but that's not all. If you look at the verb, what form is the verb in? Well, take a moment. What do "pushing" and "exercising" have in common? They both end in "ing", so I'm going to write here: "ing". Okay? So we use "by", after "by" comes a verb, and then comes "ing". You know: How do you keep clean? I keep clean by showering. How do you study? I study by... Well, not hanging out with my friends, that would be terrible for studying. I study by reading over my notes. Okay? So after "by" we have the verb and "ing". So let's do one together. "I learned karate (or karate) by _________ YouTube." What do you think the verb would be? We could say: "by watch". Is that right? "...by watch YouTube"? No, we need the "ing", perfect. "I learned karate by watching YouTube." Okay? So, again, this is very useful because any time you're explaining how, if you have a verb and "by" then you can explain how you do something. Okay, now let's look at some of... Some more differences between "with" and "by". So before I begin teaching you more about "by" and "with", I just want to say that these are the general rules, and there are always times in English when rules are broken or when there are exceptions. […]