English Grammar Question

[ichi]

Okay,
so on foot or by foot
but never feet in any combination?

It sounds reasonable.
Now it would be nice to have someone explain it.

Think of it as an idiomatic expression - it is 'on foot' (a la a pies because that is the expression, like 'Get Bent' would never become 'Get bended' or 'Become Bent'

ichi

[Togakure]

Hi all,

... Examples: "Most students arrive on the campus by feet or car." or "You can go there on foot" ...

R'as

"... by foot or by car" would work. I would use: "Most students walk to campus," or "Most student drive to campus," or "most students either walk or drive to campus." While the example you posted is easily understood, it would not often be used here, I think (in the USA).

[Togakure]

I googled the term "by feet" and found some examples.
It seems that non-native sites (Greek, Italian, German, Arab....)
like to use this expression. You cannot find that much English sites, though.
Two English examples:
Uni of Minnesota

Uni. of Manchester


Is it possibly an error of translation?
Perhaps it's connected to Latin "per pedes"?

R'as

I have never heard "by feet" used and I'm 42 and have lived in the States almost all of my life. There are many, many people here who technically speak and write English very poorly, so don't be surprised when you find examples like this.

[R'as al Ghul]

Wow, I didn't expect that many answers to this dry question.
Thanks to all who took the time, it's appreciated very much.
The .org's combined power of knowledge will make it into the classroom.
A few more Germans won't go by feet in the future.
How's that?


R'as

[Ldvs]

I got told it wasn't easy because of our inconsistant grammar, and also many words with multiple meanings ie for & four, their and there. mean for example has at least 3 meanings!

I know it's a bit off-topic, but still, it's grammar related.
I must admit that I'm quite astonished by the number of English people who can't make the difference between:

• their (possessive) / there (location) / and to a minor extent they're

• it's (verb) / its (possessive)

• than (comparative) / then (adverb)

Sadly, English native people mix them up so often that many non-native English speakers make these mistakes now.
Fortunately, very few speak French here, therefore you won't notice how terrible the French are at writing in their own language.