English is great, isn't it? Our lovely mish-mash of tongues can be expressive, droll, blunt, complex, and frustrating, especially to learn, I imagine. Native speakers internalize the intrinsic idiosyncrasies and may not even recognize a questionable usage because of the assimilation of speech patterns into written text.

For example, do you say 'impressed by' or 'impressed with'? Or when would you use one over the other?

To be completely honest, I hadn't thought about using one over the other. Whichever I wrote or said at the time sounded fine.

Come to find out, there are instances when one is preferred over the other. Let's take a look.

According to my research, the verb 'impressed' can indicate two sublty different states: one of admiration due to a performance or ability (impressed with), and one of surprise or a similar emotional response to someone or something (impressed by).

Sounds like splitting hairs, right? 



Here's an example. If a certain rose's growth rate impresses me, I am impressed with the rose's vigor. But if the same rose has the most vibrant cinnamon-orange color I've ever seen (my favorite, by the by), I am impressed by the rose's color.

The already thin distinction becomes muddier when the subject is a person or belonging to a person. Am I impressed with Annie or impressed by Annie? Unfortunately, it depends on what about Annie is doing the impressing. <eye roll>

When Annie's presentation to the committee is doing the impressing, I am impressed with her presentation skills.

When Annie's new chic apartment is doing the impressing, I am impressed by her new place. It evokes some type of emotional response of surprise within me.

A handy substitution test I found to help remember these distinctions by is if you can swap the 'impressed with' with only with and not lose meaning, 'impressed with' is the one to use.

Impressed by carries the extra layer of being able to convey admiration or a depth of emotion for someone or someone's abilities. Maybe you could remember 'emotions by people' for a very basic guideline? It may not work completely, but I think it will be enough to stick in my mind and make me think twice when I encounter the phrases while editing. Then I can refer back to this post and the original sources for more certainty.

So tell me, does the subtlelty of this linguistic construction leave an impression or not? I wasn't until I discovered there were 'rules' associated with it. And then I noticed how I just tended to use one over the other depending on the context without any thought.

Ah, the nuances of the English language. Heaps of kudos to those who have had to learn this stuff from books, classes, or apps, because not even native speakers get it right all of the time or realize they may be using something 'incorrectly.' And who says what is correct anyway?  🤔

But that is most certainly a question for another day.~