en libérant vs par libérer

AnnC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

en libérant vs par libérer

To translate "Coco Chanel became very popular 'by freeing' women from the corset", they used en libérant while I used par libérer because I thought en libérant would mean "while liberating" vs the "by liberating" they asked for.  Am I wrong? Thats what I thought I understood from other examples in the past.

This question relates to:French writing exercise "Coco Chanel"

Freeform Writing Exercise C1

Asked 4 years ago
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ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

The gérondif "en libérant" can be temporal as well as causal. 

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AnnC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

So are the two expressions always interchangeable? If not please explain when to use each...

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AlanC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

I think "par libérer" (or par + infinitive in general) can only be used after the verbs commencer, finir and their synonyms.

"Elle a commencé par libérer les femmes de l’esclavage du corset."

Apart from these cases, par is followed by a noun, not a verb.

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AnnC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Merci

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Ann asked:View original

en libérant vs par libérer

To translate "Coco Chanel became very popular 'by freeing' women from the corset", they used en libérant while I used par libérer because I thought en libérant would mean "while liberating" vs the "by liberating" they asked for.  Am I wrong? Thats what I thought I understood from other examples in the past.

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