[Grammar] ‘exhausted from’ VS ‘exhausted by’

[northpath]

Here are two sentences:
I was exhausted by/from the journey.
She was exhausted from/by all the sleepless nights.

To my knowledge, both prepositions are OK but which of them is more common?

 

[northpath]

Thanks, but how Ngram guesses that I’m asking about ‘exhausted from/by’ when I click on its reference?

 

[GoesStation]

Thanks, but how Ngram guesses that I’m asking about ‘exhausted from/by’ when I click on its reference?

Please study the correct way to form a question in English.

 

[jutfrank]

This question can normally be answered by an Ngram.

I don't think it can in this case. Or in most other cases like this involving only the head of a preposition phrase. You would have to compare the complete sentences to get relevant data. You have to be very careful when using ngrams. I'm reasonably confident that most people would select from in this case.

The fact is that different prepositions have different uses, and these uses are very fixed.

As for preposition phrases used after exhausted, here is what I think is a very good answer by Matthew McVeagh, from Quora (https://www.quora.com/What-preposition-should-be-used-after-exhausted

[FONT=q_serif]“By” if the construction is a strict passive and the prepositional phrase is the agent. As Mark says: “The race exhausted him.” -> “He was exhausted by the race.”[/FONT]
[FONT=q_serif]If there is no “by”-phrase, it’s a truncated passive, i.e. one in which the agent is omitted: “The race exhausted him.” -> “He was exhausted by the race.” -> “He was exhausted.” You’re now free to add a different prepositional phrase that expresses something different.
[/FONT]
[FONT=q_serif]“From” expresses the source of exhaustion. This is semantically similar to “by”, but grammatically it’s not an untruncated passive with an agent. “From” is most likely to be used with a gerund: “He was exhausted from running.” Frank gives the example “…my brain was so exhausted from keeping up with…”. David: “I am exhausted from all this jogging!” Clarke: “I am so exhausted from doing so much English”. “From” is less likely with an ordinary noun phrase like “the race”, however it is still also possible in some such combinations: “He couldn’t do much because he was exhausted from the race”.
[/FONT]
[FONT=q_serif]“With” can also be used of some activity that’s been tiring you out and wearing you down. Here it has a sense “I’ve had enough”: “I’m exhausted with this project!” It can also be used with people: “She was completely exhausted with the whole class.” It’s not so likely to be used with a gerund unless its one with a different subject, as in Sara’s “I was exhausted with all his talking.”[/FONT]
[FONT=q_serif]There’s one other preposition that will sometimes be used to indicate the source of the exhaustion: through. “I was exhausted through lack of sleep and fell asleep at my desk.”
[/FONT]
[FONT=q_serif]As others have pointed out you can have other prepositional phrases after “exhausted”, like “at midnight”, “by four o’clock”. But these don’t have to do with the source of the exhaustion, but other circumstances, such as the time of it.[/FONT]
[FONT=q_serif]Phrases like “after swimming laps” in “I am exhausted after swimming laps.” may feel like another example of the ‘source’ of the exhaustion, after all it’s the swimming laps that’s done the exhausting. But the truth is it’s another time expression.
[/FONT]
[FONT=q_serif]I am not convinced that we use “from” with physical exhaustion and “by” with emotional exhaustion. We can say “I am exhausted by all this jogging!” and “I am exhausted from arguing with you!” Perhaps “from” is not so much used with emotional things, but “by” can definitely be used with physical things.[/FONT]

 

[jutfrank]

A comparison of Google results:

exhausted from all the sleepless nights

https://www.google.de/search?ei=mrO.......0...1c..64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.aETDBHYKmoU

exhausted by all the sleepless nights

https://www.google.de/search?ei=RrO......0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.-ycBL-Jmhpw

 

[jutfrank]

exhausted from the journey

https://www.google.de/search?ei=hLW...6k1j46i131k1j0i46k1j0i22i30k1.266.WvPDNgq0fZw

exhausted by the journey

https://www.google.de/search?ei=drW.......0...1c..64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.PX64ADoti98