Confronted with or confronted by?

[vkhu]

In one of my sentence rewriting exercise, I made this sentence:

"When confronted by a mass of red tape, many people feel a sense of helplessness."

But my teacher said it was incorrect and tell me this is the correct answer:
"When confronted with a mass of red tape, many people feel a sense of helplessness."

I don't get it. Isn't this supposed to be a passive voice?

 

[SoothingDave]

Either preposition works for me.

 

[bhaisahab]

Either preposition works for me.

Me too.

 

[birdeen's call]

"By" personalizes the red tape in my opinion. When you use "by", you allow the following transformation:

When red tape confronts them, many people feel a sense of helplessness.

It's another thing whether this sentence would be said by a native speaker. It doesn't sound very natural to me. But that's what "by" is about (in this structure) -- it introduces the agent, one who acts. When you say

I was confronted by red tape.

you say that the red tape acted to confront you. There's a faint memory of half-forgotten humor in this construction.

That's my feeling at least. Please note that I'm not a native speaker.

 

[konungursvia]

I agree with this. I'd use "from" for inanimate objects, "by" for willful or sentient entities.

 

[SoothingDave]

I agree with this. I'd use "from" for inanimate objects, "by" for willful or sentient entities.

And that's exactly how red tape seems at times.