R
rickychang
New Member
weihai,shandong province,China
Chinese
- Apr 26, 2009
- #1
What is the difference between these two phrases,thank you!
panjandrum
Senior Member
Belfast, Ireland
English-Ireland (top end)
- Apr 26, 2009
- #2
Hello rickhchang - welcome to WordReference !["amazed by" and "amazed at" [+ amazed to] (2)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw== "\"amazed by\" and \"amazed at\" [+ amazed to] (2)")
You need to provide context - example sentences using the expressions you are asking about.
R
rickychang
New Member
weihai,shandong province,China
Chinese
- Apr 26, 2009
- #3
amazed at:I was amazed at the news.
amazed by :Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is amazed by the Premier League stats of Ryan Giggs
se16teddy
Senior Member
London but from Yorkshire
English - England
- Apr 26, 2009
- #4
I think the difference between amazed at and amazed by is quite fine. Maybe at contains an additional nuance that the amazing thing is a mighty, confronting one?
V
vphuocloc
Member
Vietnamese
- Apr 26, 2009
- #5
I think they are the same.
JoanTaber
Senior Member
New York
English Northeast USA
- Apr 26, 2009
- #6
se1teddy is quite right. There is a difference, and it is subtle. (Aside from the fact that the word "amazed" should be banished as trite and meaningless) I would say:
We're "amazed at"--i.e., enraptured or enthralled--a sunset, and "amazed by"--i.e., stunned or surprised--its wild colors.
Hotmale
Senior Member
Polish
- Dec 15, 2010
- #7
Hello
Is it to correct to write:
The traveller was amazed at the beautiful view.
The traveller was amazed by the beaustiful view.
Thank you
T
Tazzler
Senior Member
Maryland
American English
- Dec 16, 2010
- #8
Definitely "by".
se16teddy
Senior Member
London but from Yorkshire
English - England
- Dec 16, 2010
- #9
Hotmale said:
Hello
Is it to correct to write:
The traveller was amazed at the beautiful view.
The traveller was amazed by the beaustiful view.
Thank you
I would choose amazed at here. Amazed by sounds relatively bland.
However, I share the concerns Joan Taber expressed about the overuse of the verb amaze - an inevitable product of the advertizing age, I suppose, in which the most banal and conventional products are sold as "amazing". http://www.ehow.com/how_2152627_amaze-friends-this-party-game.html
Last edited:
K
kasumin
New Member
Spain
Spanish - Spain
- Dec 17, 2010
- #10
That’s not the only thing he is amazed to: they can’t identify properly some basic vegetables
I think the preposition 'to' is incorrect, but I don't know which one I should use in this sentence.
Thank you very much in advance!
panjandrum
Senior Member
Belfast, Ireland
English-Ireland (top end)
- Dec 17, 2010
- #11
I am sure that "amazed to" is wrong - "amazed by" would work.
K
kasumin
New Member
Spain
Spanish - Spain
- Dec 17, 2010
- #12
Thank you so much! That was a fast reply!
F
Fabulist
Banned
Annandale, Virginia, USA
American English
- Dec 18, 2010
- #13
If I were writing that myself, I would use "amazed at."
pops91710
Senior Member
Chino, California
English, AE/Spanish-Mexico
- Dec 18, 2010
- #14
I was taught that ending a sentence with a preposition was incorrect. We all do it, but I would not write that sentence that way. That’s not all that amazed him. They can’t identify properly some basic vegetables.
K
kasumin
New Member
Spain
Spanish - Spain
- Dec 18, 2010
- #15
pops91710 said:
I was taught that ending a sentence with a preposition was incorrect. We all do it, but I would not write that sentence that way. That’s not all that amazed him. They can’t identify properly some basic vegetables.
So, when talking we could use 'amazed at' or 'amazed by' in that sentence, right? But in a written sentence, it would be wrong ending a sentence with a preposition.
Loob
Senior Member
English UK
- Dec 18, 2010
- #16
Hello, kasumin
I've merged your thread with a previous thread on "amazed by" and "amazed at" - you might like to look through some of the earlier answers.
As to the prohibition on ending sentences with a preposition: that was an invention of eighteenth-century grammarians. It didn't reflect reality then, and it doesn't now.
F
Fabulist
Banned
Annandale, Virginia, USA
American English
- Dec 18, 2010
- #17
Native speakers who can find differences between amazed at and amazed by are welcome to do so, but I suggest that English language learners not agonize over the distinction or try to memorize a rule about when to use one or the other. Learning not to use amazed to—now that's worthwhile, if you think you'll ever want people to think that you speak or write excellent English.
e2efour
Senior Member
England (aged 79)
UK English
- Jul 29, 2016
- #18
A Google search of amazed at only displays about 500 examples.
Amazed at is more common than amazed by in the corpuses.
BNC (British National Corpus): 199 compared with 66.
COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English): 1302 compared with 571.
W
whynottail
Senior Member
Hong Kong
Chinese
- Oct 28, 2024
- #19
Hotmale said:
Hello
Is it to correct to write:
The traveller was amazed at the beautiful view.
The traveller was amazed by the beaustiful view.Thank you
It seems the confusion is caused by the double roles of 'amazed'. Amazed can be the past participle of amaze as is used in the passive voice, and it can be an adjective. The simple rule is : use 'by' when amazed is a participle and 'at' when adjective. As an adjective, the amazed person is extremely surprised and is wondering how sth can be so good, big, pleasant, etc.
When 'the traveller was amazed at the beautiful view', he was admiring the view and was wondering how it could be so beautiful.
When 'the traveller was amazed by the beautiful view', the beautiful suddenly came into sight and he was stunned by it.
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!["amazed by" and "amazed at" [+ amazed to] (2025)](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mP8/h8AAvMB+NzmkbcAAAAASUVORK5CYII=)