How? By what means?

We can use prepositional phrases to talk about how something was done—not as in quickly or quietly, but rather by what means was something done.

For instance, how (by what means) did Mr Fox kill the hens?

Then Mr Fox chose three of the plumpest hens, and with a clever flick of his jaws he killed them instantly.

The Fantastic Mr Fox(1970)

How else could he have killed them?

Then Mr Fox chose three of the plumpest hens, and by the power of hypnosis he killed them instantly.

The snippet above is different to the previous ones.

Mental exercise: What happens when you move the prepositional phrase around? Where does it work? Where does it change the meaning completely? If you know what a clause is, you'll see the effect of moving the phrase to a new clause.

Here's another example: how (by what means) could this character recognise him at a distance?

I could recognize him at a distance from his walk.

The Color of Water(1995)

I could recognize him at a distance through my binoculars.

How had this character's ear been nicked?

He fingered his ear, which had been nicked by the tip of the sword.

Guards! Guards!(1989)

He fingered his ear, which had been nicked from a lawnmower accident.

Take one of the snippets above as your model, and then write your own variation using 'with', 'by', or 'from' to show how the event happened.

Prepositions can be pretty confusing—individual prepositions can have lots of different meanings, and the differences between prepositions can be really subtle, especially when we're not just using them to talk about where and when.

If you're not sure which one to use in a particular sentence, the best thing you can do is just try some you think might work and then pick the one that feels the most right to you. Still not sure? Ask a friend!

Prepositional phrases

How? By what means?