Employ is usually followed by an object directly. In passive sentences, English commonly uses employed by for the employer. Employ in is used for roles, activities, or fields.
Use employed by to name the employer in passive structures: She is employed by a bank. Use employ someone in for a role, department, activity, or field: They employ graduates in research jobs. Active employ by is not a standard pattern.
These forms are not interchangeable. Choose the construction by meaning, not by which preposition appears most often.
Use employed by to say who gives someone work or holds their contract.
Use employ someone in when referring to the area or type of work.
Employ often takes a direct object meaning hire or use.
The same subject can take different constructions because each sentence answers a different question.
Some combinations appear in real text but do not mean what learners often assume.
English normally uses the passive form employed by when naming the employer.
✕ The bank employs by a local agency 50 workers. ✓ The bank employs 50 workers. / Fifty workers are employed by a local agency.Employ usually needs a person, thing, or method as its object.
✕ The company employs in marketing. ✓ The company employs people in marketing.Employ can mean hire people or use something for a purpose.
✕ They employed in a new strategy. ✓ They employed a new strategy in the campaign.Choose the expression that matches the intended meaning.
Paste the complete sentence below. Linguix checks the preposition together with grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style.
In modern English, employ by is not a normal active verb pattern for employers. The common form is employed by in passive sentences.
Yes. It can refer to departments, industries, activities, or fields, such as employ workers in tourism.
No. It can also mean use, as in employ a method or employ technology in research.
Create a free account to check complete texts, apply suggestions, and save your documents.
