October 16, 2025 • 9 mins
Welcome - and by the way - thanks for stopping by today! I’ve been thinking… by is one of those little words that shows up everywhere in English. It’s just two letters, but it does a lot of work.
Today we’re gonna take a close look at by - and I think you’ll be surprised at how many different ways we use it. You’ve probably seen BY in phrases like “by the time I got there,” or “a book by Hemingway,” or even “I’ll finish it by Friday.” Yeah - by is short, but powerful. Time, location, who did something, how something happens… yep, by does it all. So, let’s break it down - nice and easy.
Join my Podcast Learner's Study Group here: https://www.myhappyenglish.com/plsg
Visit my website for over 3,000 free English lessons: https://www.myhappyenglish.com/
My AI English Tutor is HERE
Today we’re gonna take a close look at by - and I think you’ll be surprised at how many different ways we use it. You’ve probably seen BY in phrases like “by the time I got there,” or “a book by Hemingway,” or even “I’ll finish it by Friday.” Yeah - by is short, but powerful. Time, location, who did something, how something happens… yep, by does it all. So, let’s break it down - nice and easy.
Join my Podcast Learner's Study Group here: https://www.myhappyenglish.com/plsg
Visit my website for over 3,000 free English lessons: https://www.myhappyenglish.com/
My AI English Tutor is HERE
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome and by the way, thanks for stopping by today.
I've been thinking bye is one of those little words
that shows up everywhere in English. It's just two letters,
but it does a lot of work. Let's dive in.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode nine oh six.
How to use buy in different contexts. Thanks for tuning
(00:55):
in and welcome back to the podcast. Today we're going
to take a close look at buy and I think
you'll be surprised at how many different ways we use it.
You've probably seen by in phrases like by the time
I got there, or a book by hemingway, or I'll
(01:19):
finish it by tomorrow. Yeah. By is short but powerful
time location, who did something, how it happens? Yep, Bye
does it all. So let's break it down nice and easy. First,
(01:41):
let's talk about buy and time. We use by to
show deadlines or time limits, like when something needs to happen,
like the other day in the office, the boss said Michael,
I need that report by five ps Yeah, no pressure, right.
(02:03):
And just yesterday I reminded one of my students, don't
forget to send your homework by Friday. So by in
this case means no later then, not five oh one,
not Saturday, but by the time you said you would.
Here's another one. I've said we should leave by seven
(02:27):
o'clock if we want to catch the train. So again,
by tells us the latest acceptable time something should happen.
Oh yeah, by the way, this is another really common phrase,
by the way. We use by the way to change
(02:49):
the topic or add extra info, like by the way,
did you hear the weather report it's gonna rain all day?
Oh and by the way, you can find the Happy
English podcast on YouTube now. The phrase by the way
(03:10):
shows up in conversation all the time. Oh and by
the way. Next, let's talk about by and location. When
something is near or close to something else, we use
by to show that relationship. Like the cafe is by
(03:32):
the station. That just means it is near the station,
maybe a one minute walk away. Last week, I met
a friend at a ramen shop by the river, and
when I walked in, he was already sitting by the
window enjoying the view. We also had a good laugh
(03:53):
about his dog who always waits patiently by the door
when it's time for a walk. How come Max doesn't
do that. So in all these situations, by means near
or next to. Now, let's look at by to show
who did something. This is especially useful when we talk
(04:18):
about books, art, songs, or when we use the passive voice.
For example, I recently saw Romeo and Juliet, Yeah, the
classic play by Shakespeare, and my friend Maria showed me
a beautiful photo of the cherry blossoms. I asked who
(04:38):
took that, and she said, oh, that was taken by
my cousin. When we use passive sentences, by shows the doer,
the person who did the action, like this house was
built by my grandfather, so by in this case gives
(04:59):
credit or a sign's responsibility, like the sofa cushion was
destroyed by Max. Next, let's look at by to show
how something happens. I get a lot of documents by email.
In last week I bought concert tickets by credit card.
(05:23):
So here by tells us the method the how. In
class the other day I said to a student, you
can improve your listening by watching short YouTube videos with subtitles,
or you may hear one say she got into grad
school by working super hard and staying focused. By working
(05:48):
super hard and staying focused. By shows the method, the process,
and how something gets done. And finally we have by
the time. This is such a natural phrase in storytelling
or explaining a sequence of events. You'll hear things like,
(06:11):
by the time I got to the party, they were
already cutting the cake. That means the cake part happened
before I arrived. I remember last month I was running
late getting ready for a dinner party, and I was thinking,
I hope I'm done by the time the guests arrive.
(06:34):
It's a great way to connect two time related ideas.
And I had a funny one last week. By the
time I finished cleaning the kitchen it was way after midnight.
That one got a few laughs from my students. So yeah,
by the time is a great way to show when
one thing happens compared to something else. All right, let's
(06:59):
recap today. We looked at how by works in English.
By can show a deadline, please submit it by Friday.
By can show location. She's sitting by the window, and
it can tell us who did something that book was
(07:19):
written by Hemingway and by shows method or means I
paid by credit card and by the time helps us
connect two events in time. By the time I got there,
the movie had already started. Bye. It's a tiny word,
(07:40):
but it really carries a lot of meaning. So here's
your challenge this week. Try making your own sentences using
by Maybe send a message to a friend like let's
meet by the train station, or tell your coworker I'll
finish that report by noon. You can even try telling
(08:03):
a short story that includes by the time. The more
you use it, the more natural it'll sound. And hey,
if you want to practice the English from this lesson
and all of my podcasts with me and a group
of other awesome English learners, come check out my podcast
(08:24):
Learner's Study Group. We meet once a week and go
over the language from these podcast lessons together. Just check
the link where you're listening right now, or visit Myhappy
English dot com and look for episode nine oh six.
Thanks for listening, and remember, learning another language is not easy,
(08:46):
but it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you
on your journey.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please
visit Myhappy english dot com show your support for Happy
English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get Happy,
Happy English.
Welcome and by the way, thanks for stopping by today.
I've been thinking bye is one of those little words
that shows up everywhere in English. It's just two letters,
but it does a lot of work. Let's dive in.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode nine oh six.
How to use buy in different contexts. Thanks for tuning
(00:55):
in and welcome back to the podcast. Today we're going
to take a close look at buy and I think
you'll be surprised at how many different ways we use it.
You've probably seen by in phrases like by the time
I got there, or a book by hemingway, or I'll
(01:19):
finish it by tomorrow. Yeah. By is short but powerful
time location, who did something, how it happens? Yep, Bye
does it all. So let's break it down nice and easy. First,
(01:41):
let's talk about buy and time. We use by to
show deadlines or time limits, like when something needs to happen,
like the other day in the office, the boss said Michael,
I need that report by five ps Yeah, no pressure, right.
(02:03):
And just yesterday I reminded one of my students, don't
forget to send your homework by Friday. So by in
this case means no later then, not five oh one,
not Saturday, but by the time you said you would.
Here's another one. I've said we should leave by seven
(02:27):
o'clock if we want to catch the train. So again,
by tells us the latest acceptable time something should happen.
Oh yeah, by the way, this is another really common phrase,
by the way. We use by the way to change
(02:49):
the topic or add extra info, like by the way,
did you hear the weather report it's gonna rain all day?
Oh and by the way, you can find the Happy
English podcast on YouTube now. The phrase by the way
(03:10):
shows up in conversation all the time. Oh and by
the way. Next, let's talk about by and location. When
something is near or close to something else, we use
by to show that relationship. Like the cafe is by
(03:32):
the station. That just means it is near the station,
maybe a one minute walk away. Last week, I met
a friend at a ramen shop by the river, and
when I walked in, he was already sitting by the
window enjoying the view. We also had a good laugh
(03:53):
about his dog who always waits patiently by the door
when it's time for a walk. How come Max doesn't
do that. So in all these situations, by means near
or next to. Now, let's look at by to show
who did something. This is especially useful when we talk
(04:18):
about books, art, songs, or when we use the passive voice.
For example, I recently saw Romeo and Juliet, Yeah, the
classic play by Shakespeare, and my friend Maria showed me
a beautiful photo of the cherry blossoms. I asked who
(04:38):
took that, and she said, oh, that was taken by
my cousin. When we use passive sentences, by shows the doer,
the person who did the action, like this house was
built by my grandfather, so by in this case gives
(04:59):
credit or a sign's responsibility, like the sofa cushion was
destroyed by Max. Next, let's look at by to show
how something happens. I get a lot of documents by email.
In last week I bought concert tickets by credit card.
(05:23):
So here by tells us the method the how. In
class the other day I said to a student, you
can improve your listening by watching short YouTube videos with subtitles,
or you may hear one say she got into grad
school by working super hard and staying focused. By working
(05:48):
super hard and staying focused. By shows the method, the process,
and how something gets done. And finally we have by
the time. This is such a natural phrase in storytelling
or explaining a sequence of events. You'll hear things like,
(06:11):
by the time I got to the party, they were
already cutting the cake. That means the cake part happened
before I arrived. I remember last month I was running
late getting ready for a dinner party, and I was thinking,
I hope I'm done by the time the guests arrive.
(06:34):
It's a great way to connect two time related ideas.
And I had a funny one last week. By the
time I finished cleaning the kitchen it was way after midnight.
That one got a few laughs from my students. So yeah,
by the time is a great way to show when
one thing happens compared to something else. All right, let's
(06:59):
recap today. We looked at how by works in English.
By can show a deadline, please submit it by Friday.
By can show location. She's sitting by the window, and
it can tell us who did something that book was
(07:19):
written by Hemingway and by shows method or means I
paid by credit card and by the time helps us
connect two events in time. By the time I got there,
the movie had already started. Bye. It's a tiny word,
(07:40):
but it really carries a lot of meaning. So here's
your challenge this week. Try making your own sentences using
by Maybe send a message to a friend like let's
meet by the train station, or tell your coworker I'll
finish that report by noon. You can even try telling
(08:03):
a short story that includes by the time. The more
you use it, the more natural it'll sound. And hey,
if you want to practice the English from this lesson
and all of my podcasts with me and a group
of other awesome English learners, come check out my podcast
(08:24):
Learner's Study Group. We meet once a week and go
over the language from these podcast lessons together. Just check
the link where you're listening right now, or visit Myhappy
English dot com and look for episode nine oh six.
Thanks for listening, and remember, learning another language is not easy,
(08:46):
but it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you
on your journey.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
This podcast is brought to you by Happy English. Please
visit Myhappy english dot com show your support for Happy
English by leaving us a review. Get English, Get Happy,
Happy English.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!