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Is it more correct to form a sentence such as

John went to academic conference by the bus

using by as the preposition indicating what he took to the conference, or is using on the correct way? Better yet, could both of them stand for the same meaning?

3 Answers 3

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The only thing wrong with your assumption is that anyone but a non-native speaker would say "by the bus." As the others have pointed out, the construction would be "by bus" or "by train" or whatever.

Nevertheless, it is certainly possible to say

John went to the academic conference on the bus.

Here is a movie poster that illustrates what I'm talking about:

enter image description here

Some may object that this might seem ambiguous, that it might seem as if the conference were being held on the bus itself, but in normal informal speech it would be easily understood. More likely the sentence would be reordered in this case, such as

John went on the bus to the academic conference.

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  • "Get on the bus" is a direct command. Does it follow the same rule for describing methods of transportation as the OP's statement? Great reference, btw. Even greater as it is the DVD box and not the movie poster.
    – tylerharms
    Nov 28, 2012 at 12:16
  • Direct commands would mostly follow the same format with respect to other forms of transportation: "Get on the train," "Get on the airplane" (but "Get in the car") and so on.
    – Robusto
    Nov 28, 2012 at 12:48
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In English, using "by" + "form of transportation" is the way to say it. However, no indefinite (or definite) article is needed. Thus...

"By bus" and not "By the bus"

"By bike" and not "By the bike"

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It looks like you're mixing two possible ways of expressing what you want to say:

  • John went to the academic conference by bus.
  • John went to the academic conference on the bus.

In the second example, you'd be drawing more attention to the specific bus John took, (Perhaps you mentioned the type or bus route previously, for example.) whereas the first sentence merely highlights the mode of transport he chose to use and the academic conference takes the focus.

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=187108

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  • Indeed, "John went to the academic conference on the bus" suggests to me that the conference itself is taking place inside a bus. And "John went on the bus to the academic conference" implies that the bus is a special one, perhaps provided by the conference itself. Nov 29, 2012 at 19:19

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