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There is a difference in the difficulty by which the two different objects can be lifted up.

Is "by" correct here? Does "difficulty by which" sound natural? is there maybe a better alternative?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Barmar
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Englishterian
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1 Answers1

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This is a question about what preposition to use with "difficulty". It is being confused by introducing the relative pronoun "which" and the relative clause. So let's get rid of the "which". Would you say

Lift an object with difficulty

or

Lift an object by difficulty

Clearly the first. So this is not a question about "which" but a question about what preposition to use with a particular noun. The point to learn from this is that you should always try to cut the problem down to the bare essentials as this will make it easier to answer and easier to learn from the answer.

David Robinson
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  • Thanks a lot for the useful advice! I now got aware that, knowing what preposition to use with a particular noun, is what I have sometimes difficulties with. Now, I can search further on that. Do you may be know some particular sources you could recommend? – Englishterian Sep 01 '18 at 10:13
  • You may find a list in a grammar but if you have a question about a particular noun you can look in an online dictionary that gives examples. – David Robinson Sep 02 '18 at 14:56