Learn English – difference between “at the example of” and “using the example of”

differencesphrases

"This is illustrated at the example of Foobar." versus "This is illustrated using the example of Foobar." Are they interchangeable? If not, what is the difference?

Best Answer

"At the example of Foobar" strikes me as ungrammatical, except in constructions like "we look at the example of ...", where that "at" belongs to the phrasal verb "look at". I'd use

This is illustrated by the example of Foobar.

Although you should note that the "by" belongs to the phrasal verb "illustrated by". Similarly, in the sentence "this can be found in the example of Foobar", the "in" goes with the verb "found".

If you wanted to put the example at the start of a sentence, usually "In the example of Foobar" would be the right preposition, but whether it is or not depends on the rest of the sentence.

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