There are three words that frequently get misused. Buy, bye, and by. It's another one of those things you just have to learn and remember, there's really not a trick to it that I'm aware of.
The first buy means to purchase something.
The second bye is a farewell (abbreviated goodbye), or it's a sports term meaning not playing this game or match or whatever.
The third by is a preposition in relation to.
Examples:
I'm going to buy a new car.
When I got that on sale it was a really good buy.
Say bye, I'm leaving.
Our team isn't playing this week because we have a bye.
I left my sweater by the tree.
That was told to my by a friend.
Pretty much, it goes like this, if it isn't the buy that has to do with purchasing, the bye that means goodbye or the sports term, it's going to be the other by.
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/by.html
Just for kicks and giggles...
http://www.esldesk.com/common-errors-in-english/-buy-by-bye.aspx
It's a fun little quiz to see if you've got it.
No comments:
Post a Comment