Usage Note: When you describe an action in which you remove one item and put a different item in its place, it's important to clearly identify which item is taking the place of the other. The verbs usually used for this kind of action are replace and substitute, which have converse meanings: if you take away an old thing and put a new thing in its place, you are replacing the old thing with the new thing, or substituting the new thing for the old thing. In the passive voice, old is replaced with new, or new is substituted for old. Sometimes, however, people switch the placement of old and new when using the verb substitute, especially in the passive voice. For example, in a low-calorie recipe that uses applesauce (the new thing) instead of butter (the old thing), the two standard constructions are Butter is replaced with applesauce or Applesauce is substituted for butter. But people sometimes say Butter is substituted by [or with] applesauce. This use of substitute is widely criticized, and most of the Usage Panel dislikes it: in our 2013 survey, 80 percent disapproved of this sentence with the preposition by, and 67 percent disapproved of it with with. In sports, however, one often encounters the less standard use of substitute, where the old player is substituted for the new one rather than vice versa. The Usage Panel is more accepting of such usage in this context; in 2013, just over half the Panel (56 percent) disapproved of the sentence The goalie allowed three goals in the first 12 minutes and was substituted before the end of the period. Unless you are discussing sports, adhering to the traditional constructions will make your writing clearer: replace the old with the new; substitute the new for the old.