Can one say[color=red]
a. Many people have profited from this therapy.
b. Many people have profited by this therapy.
?
Many thanks.
It is preferable to use b. with ‘by’. ‘Benefit’ will be a better collocation than ‘profit’. When ‘profit’ or ‘benefit’ is used as a noun, the preposition ‘from’ is possible.
I see no such preference for ‘benefit’ being necessary as (a) is perfectly natural, acceptable and grammatical, but ‘by’ with ‘profited’ is not correct.
These are all relevant possibilities
Many people have profited from this therapy.
Many people have benefited from this therapy.
Many people have been benefited by this therapy.
But I see it from my observations for more than five decades. That’s all.
[quote=“Azz”]
Can one say[color=red]
a. Many people have profited from this therapy.
b. Many people have profited by this therapy.
.
[color=blue]“from” is correct.
Your observations in a non-native ‘English as a first language’ speaking community, yes?
Please take a look at this and decide. I just said ‘preferable’ for which so much hue and cry!
It doesn’t even seem to be relevant as you argued that ‘b’ was preferable, whereas it isn’t. You cannot ‘profit by’ a therapy.
The only person setting up a ‘hue and cry’ is you.
Open your eyes and read (meticulously) the whole thread including what the OUP dictionary says. It is you who are unnecessarily interfering and making the hue and cry. Why can’t you accept what Oxford has illustrated by way of similar examples (Have you profited by the experience?/I have profited by your advice) as correct? You are not competent enough to challenge Oxford, are you?
What’s wrong with my ‘preferable’ which implies to an educated reader that the other may also be in use? Remember that English is a global language now. I have the right to comment on the usage and choose what I like so long as it can convey what I intend to convey. No community is involved. Nor is there any native or non-native criterion to judge the acceptability of a usage. Why can’t you brook additions, modifications, elucidations or corrections on your response? How can you expect your response to be peremptory? Be sensible and democratic, please!
I have been as sensible and democratic as it is possible to be. Now I’ll be straight. Your comments in message #2 were misleading and misinformed.
Yes, only to those who have eyes, but cannot see and accept the truth. Only to those who close their eyes and tell others that it is dark everywhere. LUSH!
Ah well, I tried.