with "by" or without "by"?

[maoyueh]

In Macmillan English Dictionary, I saw the following two sentences.

a. "Listen," he said, seizing my wrist.
b. Before he could run away, she seized him by the collar.

Can I change #b to "Before he could run away, she seized his collar."? Why? Thank you very much.

[SlickVic9000]

(Not a Teacher)

You could. I guess it's for the same reason the speaker's wrist could be seized in the first example sentence. When you seize something, you grab it and hold it in place, whether it's a person or an object.

[SoothingDave]

In the first case, "by the collar" is a prepositional phrase acting as an adverb, describing how he was seized.

In the second ,"his collar" is the direct object of the verb "seized." "Collar" is the DO, and "his" is an adjective describing "collar."

[maoyueh]

In Macmillan English Dictionary, I saw the following two sentences.

a. "Listen," he said, seizing my wrist.
b. Before he could run away, she seized him by the collar.

Can I change #b to "Before he could run away, she seized his collar."? Why? Thank you very much.

By the same token, can I change the sentence "He patted me on the shoulder patronizingly." to "He patted my shoulder patronizingly."? Many thanks to you.