I wonder If i can use “ by “ after all verbs as is the case with “ increase by “. For example Firstly Can say “ I got into debt by 1000 dollars “ and second exaple : “The factory produced pens by ten million instead of “ The factory produced ten million pens .
asked Nov 14, 2018 at 14:57
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1 Answer
Your initial example 'increase by' has the preposition 'by' following immediately after the verb 'increase'. None of your other examples follows this pattern.
You can say, ' I got into debt by 1000 dollars', but the preposition immediately following the verb 'got' is 'into' not 'by'.
You should not say, 'The factory produced pens by ten million'. This is not accepted normal usage. You can say, 'The factory produced pens by the tens of millions', or 'The factory produced pens by the millions'. Note however, in all three sentences the word 'by' does not immediately follow the verb 'produced' but the noun 'pens'.
In the active voice the preposition 'by' cannot be used immediately after any verb if that verb is being used transitively. In the passive voice all verbs are transitive, and you could probably always use the preposition 'by' after the passive verb to indicate who performed the action.
