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Actually, I'm learning English speaking and I'm not good at it.

During learning English, I've got a question.

How do you feel those two sentences?

  1. I knew people would be unhappy with the new tax policy

  2. I knew people would be unhappy by the new tax policy

I've heard native speaker said 1.

but I guess, when it comes to non-native speaker, saying 1. is difficult.

is 2.sentence little bit strict feeling??

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  • In 2 you can either change by to with (which would make it the same as 1), or add one word: "I knew people would be made unhappy by the new tax policy."
    – Weather Vane
    Mar 22, 2020 at 14:40
  • Thank you so much. I've realized what I missed.
    – nevergo_out
    Mar 22, 2020 at 14:52

1 Answer 1

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2 is incorrect. You could say "unhappy with" or "unhappy about". To "be unhappy by" has no meaning. You might say "I knew people would be made unhappy by the new tax policy.", but that's different.

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  • I really appreciate you. "by" could be used to passive form sentence.
    – nevergo_out
    Mar 22, 2020 at 14:52

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