Which is the right preposition to use?
QUESTION
I would like to know when to use “surrounded with” and when to use “surrounded by”.
ANSWER
In essence “surrounded by” and “surrounded with” mean the same thing.
You just have to take note that if you mean to say that someone is surrounding something else, you always use “with”.
CORRECT: You might say “John surrounded his burger with french fries”.
WRONG: You wouldn’t say “…surrounded his burger by french fries.”
But you can use the prepositions interchangeably in this case:
CORRECT: John’s burger is surrounded with french fries.
CORRECT: John’s burger is surrounded by french fries.
Source: Edited from “English As It is Broken” on STOMP. Visit www.stomp.com.sg for more.
