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Ask for help > URGENT QUESTION " ON or BY"
URGENT QUESTION " ON or BY"
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cheezels
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URGENT QUESTION " ON or BY"
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I am with a friend right now who had something marked wrong in an English test.
I came here ON/BY foot.
Can BOTH be correct? Or which one is absolutely correct and why?
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6 Oct 2010
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magneto
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on foot is absolutely correct. It �s a fixed expression.
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6 Oct 2010
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Greek Professor
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Good morning from Athens...
on foot it is...
agree with my 2 colleagues... |
6 Oct 2010
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Greek Professor
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Aaaa!....you know priorita has a point....
take a look at these opinions...
In the Siege of Leningrad article one can see the expression "by foot". I �ve always been taught the correct one is "on foot". Are, therefore, both correct ?
- "On foot" is more usual, but there �s nothing wrong with "by foot."
- Yep. Only difference I know of is a small one- if I �m standing around, I �m "on foot". Saying "by foot" indicates travel, just as you might travel by train or by car. But, "I went 20 miles today, on foot" is fine, as is "I went 20 miles today, by foot".
- Good catch - actually, I think that "on foot" can be used as both an adverb and an adjective, while "by foot" is only an adverb phrase. So you can use "on foot" to describe someone: "a man on foot." But you can use either one to describe an action: "He came on foot" or "He came by foot."
Is "on foot" British? It sounds completely wrong to my American ear, in both cases given by Friday (standing around or travelling). I could say "I �ve been on my feet all day". For travel, I �d always use "by foot" or more usually "I walked 20 miles today". |
6 Oct 2010
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cheezels
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I will pass this on to my friend. His teacher could not tell him why he was wrong, but that the answer was ON and not BY.
I have heard and seen both in written forms and while ON for me would be my first choice I could not quite see why BY would be wrong.
Interesting!
:-) |
6 Oct 2010
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Jayho
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It �s an interesting one - theoretically on foot is the grammatically correct expression but by foot is commonly used. To me it, in many contexts, doesn �t sound out of place however I �d like to add that IMHO this expression is a bit old fashioned and many people use the word walk instead.
I came here on foot = I walked (here)
Cheers
Jayho
edit: Cheezels we posted at the same time - and had the same thoughts too |
6 Oct 2010
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yanogator
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In the US, we wouldn �t use "by foot". We use "by" with vehicles (by car, by train, etc.)
We also wouldn �t use "on foot" as an adjective, as in Greek Professor �s example. We would say "a man on his feet", but not "a man on foot".
At least, that �s my experience,
Bruce |
6 Oct 2010
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Apodo
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We use I came by car, by bus etc, so perhaps it �s being used like that.
My preference is certainly for on foot. |
6 Oct 2010
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source
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As far as I �m concerned , we use by for the vehicles...
By car
By train
By bus etc.
but we use � on foot �. |
6 Oct 2010
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