Learn English – You can contact me on/over/by Skype

idiomsprepositionsword-choice

Which preposition(s) is / are correct in the following example?

We contacted the college authority over / on / by Skype.

Best Answer

Technically you can use quite a variety of prepositions with the word Skype. For instance on, in, over, by, with, through, and via.

But most people prefer "on Skype" as it is similar to "on the phone". However, in technical documentation and in formal speech I often hear "via Skype".

As for the other prepositions, they are used less often but sometimes in a different context.:

  • by - "by means of" or "using" Skype as a software.
  • over - mostly used when you want to send somebody information via Skype: "Could you send it to me over Skype" or "How to play music over Skype?".
  • in - same as over when sending infirmation, and whenever somebody is talking about functions and services that Skype provides or that are in the software (online and OS based alike): "Let's chat in Skype", "Could you show it to me in Skype?", "You can't make free telephone calls in Skype" or "The smileys in Skype aren't very beautiful"
  • through - used very rarely and mostly means by means of the service: "You can contact other people through Skype"
  • with - mostly means "when using" and "together": "How to use a webcam camera with Skype" or "I have a USB flash drive with Skype on it".

Edit:

  • into - mostly used when you need to access your Skype account or when you want to insert something into the software's message window. Also used when you want to add a component, a feature or new smileys to Skype: "How to login into Skype", "I cannot sign into Skype" or "How to copy/paste into Skype"
  • across - mostly to mean "over the network (not very common): "You can share videos across Skype"
Related Topic