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Considering the following examples, I can not see a difference in the meaning in this specific context. In fact, I just use both of them in order to "diversify" my texts. Even though I sometimes have the feeling that "through" is just a germanism.

So, are they complete synonyms in this context?

Examples:

"defined through/by."

"justified through/by"

"explained through/by"

"'verb'ed through/by"

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    I see no merit is randomly switching between prepositions for the sake of "diversity". Bear in mind that "consistency" is also a valued quality in matters such as this. My advice would be to always use by unless you've a good reason for wanting to call attention to the fact that the way you're trying to define, justify, explain something is a relatively long and tortuous process. Even then, you should be careful - by is far more common, so whenever you use a different preposition, you risk people thinking "I wonder why he phrased it like that?"
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Oct 9, 2013 at 21:50
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    ... you can highlight text by putting one (italic) or two (bold) or three (bold italic) asterisks before and after the relevant text (no spaces between the asterisks and the target text).
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Oct 9, 2013 at 21:52
  • ok, thank you for your answer, it sounds plausible and concurs with my personal opinion. But, you know, as in school back then, one was teached to not use the same word to often, because it is a bad style. And I think, this was a stupid suggestions - with exceptions, but not the other way around- since nowadays a student often spends more time in thinking how to substitute words in order to sound professionel than to proceed the thoughts and argumentation to actually be professional. sad story...and maybe contradicts in some degree this sites, with all the literates, but, perhaps not. =)
    – mr.gaussian
    Commented Oct 9, 2013 at 22:13
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    @ mr.gaussian: I think the idea behind advice to "vary the way you say things" is more relevant to budding creative writers. It really stands out when someone uses the same "creative/unusual" form even twice in the same book. But in most contexts (certainly when the words used are commonplace, and the purpose is to communicate rather than entertain), variety for the sake of it is either pointless, or an unwelcome distraction.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Oct 9, 2013 at 22:33

2 Answers 2

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Probably the most important difference is that through is used with an action or process, not with the agent who actually performs the action. (You may, however, effect something through an intermediary). By may be used with both.

  The data were collected through a telephone poll of residents.
  The data were collected by a telephone poll of residents.
∗The role of Hamlet was performed through Olivier.
  The role of Hamlet was performed by Olivier.

By is far more common. As you may see from the Google Ngram below on a handful of random verbs, through appears to be getting more popular, but for most verbs it's used less than 5% as often as by. Note, however, that for a couple of verbs the percentage is significantly higher. These verbs are achieved and accomplished, which are inherently more "processual" than the others.

ByThrough.png

Most of the time, by is just fine. There is certainly no reason to avoid it; on the contrary, the sort of Elegant Variation you describe is almost universally deprecated. But when you're dealing with processes, it's OK to use "through".

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  • Thank you very much. In my belief, an excellent answer including the references and excluding elegant variation.
    – mr.gaussian
    Commented Oct 9, 2013 at 22:28
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    It may be just a personal perception, but to me, something like In the past, natural phenomena were explained through legends carries more of a sense that those explanations were more thorough, lengthy, involved. Something a bit more complex than Rain/Thunder/Wind is when God cries/shouts/breathes, which is what by legends suggests to me.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Oct 9, 2013 at 22:44
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    @FumbleFingers I agree. The more sustained effort, the more through is appropriate. But agency demands by.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Oct 9, 2013 at 23:14
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There is major difference between through and by. I got executed projects through team in-charges I got executed projects by teams. The first person is not directly connected with team members, there is in-charge of team.

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  • Please do not add a new answer to a (very) old post when it has an accepted, high quality answer already. Make a new answer when you think you can make a meaningful contribution that the other answer(s) has not. In general, try to add an supplementary material, like dictionary entries, if possible. This helps make your answer a high quality answer.
    – Em.
    Commented Jul 7, 2016 at 1:03

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