By

Agent

In the passive voice "by" introduces the noun doing the "agentive" action in the sentence. The grammatical subject is the "theme" or the patient.

agent = actor, patient = what is acted upon, theme = topic

• This book was written by Charlotte Brontë.
• The results of the older study have been replicated by several more recent ones.
• Did you have to help your son with his homework or did he do it by himself?
• Little has been written by mainstream sources about the question.

Deadline

• Income taxes must be filed in the US by April 15^th
• We need get this fixed by the end of the day.
• The mail usually gets here by noon.

Locative: along / via / near / next to

• I live by the river.
• I live by the school.
• We were sitting by the exit, so we could get back out quickly.

"Means" argument, answers the question how?

(fr. complement circonstantiel de moyen / instrument, etc.)

• By rearranging the seats, the bride kept the feuding uncles as far apart as she could.
• We reached them by phone.
• The video was subtitled by machine.