ESEN
Which one to use?Intermediatestructurestructure
Made byvsMade from / made of
'Made by' indicates the creator; 'made from' indicates the material or ingredient; 'made of' indicates visible material.
Side-by-side comparison
Made by
structure"Made by" indicates who made or created something. It refers to the person or company, not the material. "Made by Apple", "made by a local carpenter".
This painting was made by a local artist who lives just down the road from here.
The cake was made by my grandmother using a recipe that has been in our family for years.
The pottery on the shelf was made by hand by craftspeople from a small village in the south.
Made from / made of
structure"Made of" when the material is visible in the final result: a wooden table, a gold ring. "Made from" when the material was transformed and is no longer recognizable.
This bag is made of real leather, you can tell by the smell and the texture.
Traditional bread is made from just four ingredients: flour, water, salt, and yeast.
Most of the furniture in that café is made from recycled wood, it looks really beautiful.
Common mistake
"Made from a local carpenter" is wrong: the creator takes "by". "Made by a local carpenter". And "made by wood" is also wrong: material uses "of" or "from", not "by". "Made of wood".
Trick to remember it
- •Who made it? "Made by" + person or company.
- •Can you see the material in the product? "Made of" + visible material (wood, metal).
- •Was the material transformed? "Made from" + transformed material (grapes → wine).
Quick rule
"Made by" = creator. "Made of" = visible material. "Made from" = transformed material. They can coexist: "made by the chef from local ingredients".
Did you know?
In modern native English practice, the "made of / made from" distinction is blurring in informal American English, where "made from" is increasingly used for visible materials. However, the "made by" (creator) vs "made of/from" (material) distinction remains absolutely robust. In professional English, the most serious confusion is "by" vs "of/from", not "of" vs "from".
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
This table was _____ a local carpenter. You can see the quality in every detail.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
This table is _____ solid oak. You can see the wood grain clearly.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
Active voicevsPassive voice
In the active voice the subject acts; in the passive voice the subject receives the action.
For + -ingvsTo + infinitive
To express purpose: 'for' is followed by a noun or gerund; 'to' is followed by an infinitive.
WhovsWhom
"Who" is the subject (does the action); "whom" is the object (receives the action).
AvsAn
'A' is used before consonant sounds; 'an' is used before vowel sounds.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy