"WORD BY WORD" vs. "WORD FOR WORD"

WORD BY WORD vs. WORD FOR WORD

What is it that most teachers expect their students to do? They expect them to memorise the answers from textbooks and reproduce them in the exams. When you repeat something "word for word" what you are doing is repeating it exactly as someone else said it or wrote it. Here are a few examples.

e.g. Mohan memorised the speech word for word.

e.g. Sohan has an amazing memory. He took one look at the paragraph and was able to recall it word for word.

e.g. I will give you the gist. I don't recall word for word what was said.

According to the NTC's American Idioms Dictionary, when you look at something "word by word", you are looking at it one word at a time.

e.g. Mohan wanted her lawyer to examine the contract word by word before signing it.

e.g. Sohan compared the two versions of the poem word by word to see what made them so different.

e.g. Mohan refused to go through the document word by word.

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