WHAT YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT AGENCY PREPOSITIONS: It has been observed that these two prepositions "by" and "through" are often misused by most second language users of English language. So, we are going to put both into consideration and clarify the usage.
When trying to show who did something or what, it's better to use the Preposition "by". E.g., The goat was killed by James. Here 'by' shows that what was done was intentionally done by James. Here, James is the agent: that is, the person who brought about the killing of the goat.
On the other hand, to show that something was not intentionally done, or non-human agent is responsible, it's better to use "through". For instance, it's wrong to have a sentence like: He died by an accident or he was killed by an accident. Here, accident has been personified as an animate thing or even human being. It is better to write: He died through an accident. Consider this sentence: The patient died through the doctor's carelessness. And not by the doctor's carelessness because the doctor does not intentionally kill his patient.
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