Rama Van Basten

Pada umumnya, penggunaan kata depan BY adalah sebagai berikut:

a. by + the/a/adjective pronoun + tempat

Phrase ini memiliki dua arti, yaitu: ” melewati” dan ” di dekat”. Jika kalimatnya menggunakan verb yang mengandung makna “bergerak/berpindah tempat”, by = melewati (Lihat contoh 1-2). Sebaliknya, jika kalimatnya menggunakan verb yang bermakna “tidak berpindah tempat”, maka by = di dekat. (Lihat contoh 3-5).

Contoh:

1. They walked by the library on the way home. (Mereka berjalan melewati perpustakaan itu dalam perjalanan pulang).
2. We drove by your house last weekend but we completely forgot to stop by. (Kami naik mobil melewati rumahmu, tetapi kami benar-benar lupa untuk singgah).
3. The young girl was crying by a telephone post when her parents picked her up. (Gadis kecil itu sedang menangis di dekat sebuah tiang telepon ketika orang tuanya menjemputnya).
4. She stands by the window every night thinking of her long distance lover. (Dia berdiri di dekat jendela tiap malam memikirkan kekasihnya nun jauh di sana).
5. I just parked my car by yours. (Aku baru saja memarkir mobilku di dekat mobilmu).

b. by + object kalimat

Phrase ini digunakan dalam kalimat pasif. Dalam hal ini, by = oleh.

Contoh:

1. The company is being sued by its laborers. (Perusahaan itu sedang dituntut (di meja pengadilan) oleh buruh-buruhnya).
2. My cellphone was stolen by someone this morning. (Hpku dicuri oleh seseorang tadi pagi).

c. by + specific time

Yang dimaksud dengan specific time di sini antara lain: jam (7 o’clock, 8 a.m, 12 p.m, dst), atau dawn (subuh), noon, midday (jam 12 siang), dusk (magrib), midnight (jam 12 malam). Jika diikuti oleh specific time, by = before (= sebelum).

Contoh:

1. Meet me by noon tomorrow! (Temui aku sebelum jam 12 siang besok).
2. They usually have dinner by 7 o’clock in the evening. (Mereka biasanya makan malam sebelum jam 7 malam).
3. We will arrive there by midnight. (Kita akan tiba di sana sebelum jam 12 malam).
   

d. by + bus/plane/train/ship/car/bike, dst

Phrase ini menyatakan alat tranportasi yang digunakan untuk pindah atau bepergian.

Contoh:

1. It was very fascinating to travel by train during the fall. I could enjoy an unforgettable view of colorful leaves along the train tracks.
2. It would be much nicer to go to the office by car than by bus.

e. by then

By then = sebelum waktu tertentu di masa lampau atau di masa mendatang.

Contoh:

1. I will graduate from the university in 2011. By then, I hope I have found a job. (di kalimat ini, by then = sebelum tahun 2011).
2. Soeharto died last year. By then, he had governed our country for more than 30 years. (di kalimat ini, by then = sebelum tahun lalu).

f. by way of

By way of = via (= melalui)

Contoh:

1. We drove from Surabaya to Jakarta by way of Jalur Pantura.
2. Many ships cruise from Europe to Asia by way of the Suez Canal.

g. by the way

By the way = incidentally = secara tak sengaja/secara kebetulan.

Contoh:

1. By the way, I’ve got two tickets for the movie. Would you like to go with me?

By the way juga berarti “omong-omong”, biasanya digunakan untuk membelokkan arah pembicaraan.

Contoh:

1. By the way, are you married?

h. by far

By far = considerably

Contoh:

1. This is by far the best cellphone I’ve ever had.
2. By far, you’re the most beautiful, caring, loving person I have ever met.

i. by accident/by mistake

By accident/by mistake = not intentionally (= dengan tidak disengaja); dan merupakan antonim (kebalikan) dari on purpose.

Contoh:

1. Even though the student broke the microscope by accident, he had to be responsible for the repairing expense.
2. I didn’t do it on purpose. It happened by accident.