Filled with means full of something or someone. It works for places and objects (a glass filled with water, a room filled with smoke) and for strong feelings: filled with joy.
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filled with + noun (people, water, smoke); filled with + feeling (joy, fear, pride)
- By eight o'clock the hall was filled with parents waiting for the school concert.
- I opened the old box and found it filled with photos and postcards.
- He was filled with pride when his daughter got her first job.
What changed
First versionMy suitcase was filled by presents for the whole family.
RevisionMy suitcase was filled with presents for the whole family.
My suitcase was filled looks like an ordinary passive, and in a passive the one who does the action is introduced by by. Hence filled by. But presents don't do anything; they're the contents, what the suitcase is full of. Contents are introduced by with.
With by, filled has its own meaning: who took a place or a job. The position was filled by a graduate from Kazan means a graduate from Kazan got the job. A close synonym of filled with is full of: a room full of people.
Your turn
When I came back from holiday, my inbox was ___ unread emails.
Show the answer
filled with — The emails are the contents of the inbox, what it's full of, so with. By would name someone who did something or took a job, and the emails didn't do anything.
Describe a place that was packed with people or things. Name the place and what it was filled with.
Last Saturday the market near my flat was filled with families buying pumpkins.
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