19:12 Oct 30, 2011 

19:09 Oct 30, 2011 

Forgive the misspellings of installments with all the missing "s"'s.

19:07 Oct 30, 2011 

After some research, it seems ironically enough that US Usage actually prefers "in installments", whereby UK, Australia & New Zealand prefer "by instalments". The figures:
FILTERED FOR COUNTRY
US Usage
In intallments = 1,210,000
By intallments = 122,000

UK Usage (with the British spelling "Instalments")
In instalments = 156,000
By intalments = 274,000

Canada follows the US example and Australia and New Zealand follow the UK.

Despite the fact that (as you pointed out) me and Lingopro perhaps use UK English, we are in fact supporting US Usage in this context, if the figures are to be believed. So I don't think it's entirely down to a US/UK dichotomy, especially since that dichotomy is eroding every day as the UK moves ever more closely to US usage practices.

18:22 Oct 30, 2011 

Thanks, Lingopro!
In view of Joab’s examples, taken from American sources - which support my point - it seems to me that it may indeed be the difference between American English and British English (which you and Ty are native speakers of).
And at this point, I rest my case, as I’ve a job to complete.

18:09 Oct 30, 2011 

I was certainly not suggesting a word-for-word translation, and as Ty said, this is a rare case where Hebrew and English agree with each other. I also agree with Ty that "by installments" sounds a bit off.

As for Jaob's entry (Time Magazine): I think you can have victory by installments and still pay in installments.

Lastly, if Babylon has any weight in this discussion, then interestingly enough it has an entry for "pay in installments", and no entry for "pay by installments".

Perhaps the best thing to do is to enter both, as Wizard suggested.

17:55 Oct 30, 2011 

Cornell Law School: "the State may repay the Federal Funds by installments if the following conditions are met" (http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/42/430/48)
Time Magazine: "Victory by Installment: (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,817237,00.h...

17:27 Oct 30, 2011 

It seems to me that it's a matter of dialect and preference - please see for instance the following link:
http://www.netspeak.org/#query=by installments
and maybe both options should be entered ...

17:23 Oct 30, 2011 

I don't think Lingopro is suggesting translating things word for word, but I think this is a rare case where Hebrew and English agree with each other.

17:19 Oct 30, 2011 

"by installments" = 267,000 entries
"in intallments" = 1,690,000 entries
They may both exist, but there's something about "by installments" which just grates on the ear as not quite right (in my opinion).

17:08 Oct 30, 2011 

Both variants are possible - you can google it and find for yourself - some 267,000 advanced search results
And by the way, although, as said, both variants are used, in this case, the reasoning of Lingopro is out of place, since you don't translate phrases, or any other text, for that matter, word for word.

17:03 Oct 30, 2011 

It should be "in installments". I've never heard "by" installments.

16:59 Oct 30, 2011 

I think it should be "in installments" and not "by installments".

Much like Hebrew, where

אתה משלם בתשלומים ולא על ידי תשלומים.