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ESL forum >
Ask for help > URGENT QUESTION " ON or BY"
URGENT QUESTION " ON or BY"
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Lina Ladybird
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I was taught that I must always use "by" (by car, by plane, by train, by ship, etc.) except for "on foot".
The usage of "by foot" is becoming more and more common probably because of all the people who don�t know about the grammatical rule!  So one day it will presumably be OK to say "by foot" instead of "on foot". |
6 Oct 2010
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Zora
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I have seen "by foot" a lot of times; especially when referring to Walking Tours or direction giving... i.e. To get there by foot, you go down Carlington Avenue.
But as most people will say the correct way is "on foot". I think that when we are talking about "walking as a means of transportation" - comparing it to a bus or car for example; native speakers sometimes treat "walking" as if it were a way of (motorized) travelling!
In other words, it �s a colloquial thing and not the "proper grammatical" way of using "foot". 
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6 Oct 2010
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joy2bill
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I agree with Jayho. While "on foot" is grammatically correct, "by foot" is common and understood. However the most used expression is " I walked there".
I must disagree with my other learned friend, I do not think English is that strict in construction no matter how much easier it would be if it were so. It �s teaming with exceptions and more are introduced everyday.
I avoid telling my students that something is 100% correct because what might be correct in one community might be quite incorrect in another.
Just my tuppence worth
Joy |
6 Oct 2010
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almaz
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I did a quick Simple Search of the British National Corpus and the term �on foot � gave 478 hits while �by foot � gave 31 (from the late 20th century).
I know there �s a moral here somewhere, but I can �t be bothered coming up with it...
Alex |
6 Oct 2010
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Jayho
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Hey that �s interesting Almaz
Use of by is 6% of total for on/by for SBE and 14% for SAE
Considering downunder we use a combination of SBE and SAE we could be at 20% or thereabouts ... just a thought
Anyhow, the Australian Corpus is still in development and recognises that the several hundred languages spoken here have an impact on the current linguistic landscape. |
6 Oct 2010
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PhilipR
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In the beginning... on foot was correct, on foot only.
Then some people started using by foot, probably thinking that getting somewhere needed the preposition �by � (by car, by bus etc.).
Nowadays �by foot � is still considered a mistake by many, but more and more people are beginning to accept this quirk.
In the future, both will probably be considered correct.
Language is alive, and this won �t be the only mistake that has crept into English and become accepted. |
6 Oct 2010
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priorita
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I think we all agree that the grammar rules are commonly and often broken in various languages, not only in English, and that the commonly used words and phrases replace the traditionally correct ones.
I was taught that the only response to "How do you do?" is the same "How do you do?" I was surprised to hear "Fine, thank you!"
Or from one of my favourite Sting �s songs "He don �t play for respect".
And I am furious because of the latest official changes in Russian, really stupid and completely out of grammar, but, you know, the people themselves set trends using this or that word with wrong preposition or something.
Sorry, it �s my soul screaming
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6 Oct 2010
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