It seems that "enamored" can be used with any of the prepositions "of", "with", and "by". What is the proper usage for each?
This is the sentence I'm writing:
The team, enamored with this new metaphor, spent much of the remaining time brainstorming ways to apply those principles to the project.
"By" sounds the most natural to me in that context, and "of" sounds stilted. "With" is somewhere in between.
Looking at Google Ngrams, British English seems to use nearly exclusively "enamoured of", while American English uses both "enamored of" and "enamored with". "Enamo(u)red by" is quite rare on both sides of the pond. I would probably say "enamored of" when talking about a person, an animal, or an abstract idea, and "enamored with" when talking about a tangible object. I can't tell whether this is just me, or American usage in general. After looking at some examples on Google, I can say lots of people don't follow this rule.
He was enamored with his new model airplane.
He was enamored of the idea of running his own business.
But all three of these prepositions are acceptable grammar, and all three should be understood equally well.
Instances of enamoured of overwhelmingly outnumber the other two in the Corpus of Contemporary English, the British National Corpus and the Oxford English Dictionary. All three seem to be more common in British English than in American English.
Hey, I see you're at Brigham Young. You can get corpus data from their site right here.
I found this answer here: http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/enamored.html
"If you’re crazy about ferrets, you’re enamored of them. It is less common but still acceptable to say “enamored with”; but if you say you are enamored by ferrets, you’re saying that ferrets are crazy about you."
I learned "of", which implies something bestowed upon, a one-way effect. "With" implies interaction, to me. "Of" does objectify the subject more- you are fond of a thing, you are involved with doing things. Etymologically, I suppose it should be with, as en amour / inamour means "in love". But you can have a love of something, also. I would use either depending on whether your love was requited, or caused by involvement and actions, rather than ideals.
From the Free Online Dictionary... enamoured US, enamored [ɪnˈæməd] adj in love; captivated; charmed
Also... Thesaurus Legend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms enamoured adjective enamoured with = "in love with", "taken with", "charmed by:, :fascinated by:, :entranced by:, :fond of", "enchanted by", "captivated by:, "enthralled by", "smitten with", "besotted with", "bewitched by", crazy about (informal), infatuated with, enraptured by, wild about (informal), swept off your feet by, nuts on or about (slang). "When I was young I was totally enamoured of him."
Therefore, it can be used with any of the prepositions "of", "with", and "by".
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
It may also be a question of style.
This, for example, rolls off the tongue quite nicely.
I was enamored of the town.
This one, however, is clunky in its repetitiveness.
I was enamored of the idea of going to the movies.
In the second example, I would opt for:
I was enamored with/by the idea of going to the movies.
No apparent difference in meaning, but it certainly sounds (and reads) better.
I believe that "Enamoured with" indicates a two-way "enamouring" (that is, I am starting to love him AND he is starting to love me). "Enamoured of" indicates one-way (I'm starting to love him). "Enamoured by" specifically indicates one-way only (he is starting to love me).
