WORDS USED IN PAIR

English for Today by Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (Dr GAB)

WORDS USED IN PAIRS

4. BY AND BY: It is used to mean “soon”/”after a while”/”before long”: I will be there by and by. It can also be used as a noun but it has to be hyphenated: I will see you in the by-and-by.
5. BY THE BY: It is used as a connector when introducing new topic. It means “incidentally” or “by the way”. I am not coming today. By the by, I have another meeting to attend.
   Note that it is less preferred to ‘incidentally” in formal writing.
6. BY AND LARGE: You use by and large to indicate that a statement is mostly but not completely true: By and large, it was a good performance.
   GAB