1. by the way常用做状语,意为“顺便问一下,顺便说一下”。例如:
By the way, have you any idea where the post office is?
顺便问一下,你知道邮局在哪儿吗?
We shall expect you; by the way, dinner will be at eight.
我们等着你;顺便告诉你,晚饭在8点钟开。
When I was a boy, I used to play by the way.
小时候,我常在路旁玩。
2. in the way 意为“在道上”,有挡道、妨碍的意味,例如:
Your car is in the way.你的小汽车挡路了。
Fred tried to get to the door, but the table was in the way.
弗雷德想到门口去,但是桌子挡住了他的路。
The box stands in my way.
这箱子挡了我的路。
Thinking she was in the way, Aunt Liu got up to leave.
刘大婶认为她妨碍了别人,就站起来走开了。
I was not in the way at first and knew nothing of it.
起先我并不在场,一点也不了解此事。
3. on the (one's) way 主要有两种意思和用法;1)表示“在途中”,若表示在去某地的途中,其后要用介词to接地点名词表示目的地,若目的地是副词,则不用to;2)表示“在进行中”,常用作动词be的表语,后接介词to+动名词或动作名词。例如:
I met an old friend of mine on my way to the station.
在去车站的途中,我碰见了我的一位老朋友。
On the way home he thought over many things.
在回家途中他考虑了很多事情。
He is on the way to being a professor.
他快要当教授了。
The patient is on the way to recovery.
病人在复原中。