French language Q&A Forum

The recommended translation of 'It [the year] started with the biggest heartache of my life' is 'Elle a commencé avec la plus grosse peine de cœur de ma vie'.

Is there a reason why 'avec' is preferred over 'par' in this sentence?

A post further down says "soit..soit is used when followed by anything other than a verb". I’ve just done a quiz elsewhere where the answer they wanted was "Soit tu mets du déodorant, soit je te quitte"! Is this a usage that exists but isn’t good French? If so, what’s a better way to express it? I can’t imagine "soit que" is very common and "que" + subjunctive verb seems to be a yes/no situation (eg que tu le mettes ou pas) rather than offering two alternative verbs.

Thank you.

I put in some different answers from what was accepted and wondered if any of the following were possible. 

1. For "I really need to save", is it OK to use "il faut vraiment", or does "absolument" always naturally go with "il faut" ?

2. For "I've stopped buying expensive brands", can I also use the reflexive "Je me suis arrêtée d'acheter des marques chères" ?

3. For "and instead I've tried the supermarket brands" can we use "au lieu" in place of "à la place"?; and finally :

4. For "I must admit", can the verb "avouer" replace "admettre", as in "Je dois l'avouer..." or does this have a different sense ?

Thanks