"We need to find out the motives,” Mr Thiti said. “What we can prove now is that they are not dead from suicide but from the killing of others.”
Can “by” substitute for “from”?
Thanks.
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“By” cannot replace “from” in your sentence because “to die from” means “to die as a result of”, whereas “by” indicates an active agent - a person or a thing that is capable of using/doing something to carry out the action. “Suicide” or “murder” will not have the intention of causing the death of someone.
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We have two expressions > die of and die from.
The phrase ‘die by’ does not exist.
The first is used with natural death like die of cholera and the second with causal death like die from over-eating.
Here, suicide and killing (murdering) are caused.
So, in my view, ‘by’ may not be appropriate and so the substitution is not correct.
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