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.
en libérant vs par libérer
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AnnKwiziq Q&A regular contributor
So are the two expressions always interchangeable? If not please explain when to use each...
Alan 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.
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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