We often need to go from one place to another, even if we don’t particularly want to. If you live in a city as I do, you’ll have several options for getting around. Here in Timișoara I can walk, run (!), ride a bike, or take a bus, tram, or taxi. If I want to go a bit further, I can take a car, a train or even a plane. If you live in a large city you might have an underground system (also known as a subway or a metro), and when I lived in New Zealand I took a ferry (a kind of boat) to work each morning. Perhaps you even have a private helicopter.
So how do we talk about all these options? Well, what we never do is use the word with. If you’re the sort of person who says *”I go with train” or *”we went with car”, you need to make an emergency stop! Using with when talking about transport is wrong in English. Instead, you can use the word by:
John: How did you get here?
Jane: I went by bike.
Wayne: What’s the best way to get to Sibiu?
Wendy: It’s probably best to go by train.
Note that when we use by here, we don’t say the. We say “by train” (for example), not *”by the train”.
Another very common way to talk about transport is to use the verb to take:
It’s too far to walk. I think we should take a taxi.
We took the bus to the station, then we took the eight o’clock train.
You can take the cross-town bus if it’s raining or it’s cold.
A third way to talk about transport is to use verbs like to walk, to run, to ride, to cycle, to drive or to fly. Remember that the past tense forms of to run, to ride, to drive and to fly are all irregular.
Richard: How did you get to the concert?
Rose: I drove, but I had to park my car a long way from the stadium. I walked the rest of the way.
Dave: What’s the cheapest way to travel to Timișoara?
Diana: It’s cheapest if you fly. Last month I flew with Ryanair and it only cost me £60 return.
Barbara: How do you get to work in the morning?
Barry: Normally I cycle to work, but if it’s wet I drive.
Note that if you’re talking about a bike, you can use to cycle, to ride or even (informally) to bike. For a motorcycle, you normally use the verb to ride.
Not all methods of transport have a verb associated with them. You can’t say that you *taxied or *trammed or *trained.
That’s all for Part 1 of my series on transport. Please never, ever say “I went with train” again! Click here for Part 2.