Learn English – This/that way, or in this/that way

phrase-usage

Is 'This/that way' a colloquial way of saying 'In this/that way?'. 'In this/that way' to me sounds close to mean 'By doing so.' Does 'this/that way' mean the same thing, only more conversational?

Ex: You need to deposit the money in your bank account. This way, you stay away from overdrawing your account when using your debit card.
(conversational)

… In this way, you stay away… (more standard/grammatically correct)

Best Answer

Excluding theological works, in this way is normally used at the end of a sentence, meaning thus or like this, for example:

Now one asks: what if everyone followed this maxim or acted in this way? - Rethinking Ethics in the Midst of Violence: A Feminist Approach to Freedom

this way at the start of a sentence means thereby or by doing so or in that case.

But what if we knew the ending and it guaranteed our happiness? That way, no matter how bad things seemed at the time, we knew that everything would turn out okay. The mustard seed way

in this way is certainly quite formal, but the informal version of it is like this, and not this way.

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