Why is it "shake them by the hand"?

[Christie]

Test No. incompl/elem-3 "Drive carefully", question 7

When you first meet someone, you usually shake them ......... the hand.

(a) with
(b) on
(c) in
(d) by

Test No. incompl/elem-3 "Drive carefully", answer 7

When you first meet someone, you usually shake them by the hand.

Correct answer: (d) by

Your answer was: incorrect
When you first meet someone, you usually shake them with the hand.
_________________________

why do we use by instead of with?
shake them by the hand/shake them with the hand

[Torsten]

In English we often use the preposition by to express the way or means through something is achieved:

I usually go to work by car but sometimes I go by train.

By watching CNN every day I have been able to improve my listening comprehension.

She found this exciting new cafe? by accident when she was strolling through the shopping mall.

TOEIC listening, talks: A voice mail message on theatre info

[guest]

When you first meet someone, you usually shake them ......... the hand.

(a) with
(b) on
(c) in
(d) by

Hi all!
I have a question!

Wouldnt the sentence above be correctly spelled :"
When you first meet someone, you usually shake his hand."?
someone is singular and them is plural
i dont really understand that
:-)

[Conchita]

[Jerryjay75]

Hi! Conchita! I agree with you.

[Conchita]

Just to add to my previous post:

In written Spanish, the 'PCness' of the matter is often taken care of with the at sign, which we call 'arroba'. The little snail comes in handy when the gender of the addressee/s is unknown or when both genders are being addressed, and is often used to replace the 'a' and 'o' gender endings. So, 'dear friend/s', for example, becomes 'querid@/s amig@/s'.

Back to the original thread question, other common phrases are:

- to shake hands (with someone)
- to shake someone's hand.

[Yankee]

In addition to what Conchita has mentioned about the PC ("politically correct") aspects of gender-neutral pronoun usage, I'd like to point out that the use of a plural pronoun (rather than a singular "generic" masculine pronoun) isn't necessarily always simply a question of political correctness. This excerpt from the American Heritage Dictionary addresses the fact that the use of a "generic" masculine pronoun sometimes does not sound generic at all, and instead sounds incredibly odd and nonsensical:

[Alan]

Hi Conchita,

I'm not so sure that this use of 'they' 'their' is a politically correct thingy. To me it's more of a practical solution when we want to refer to both 'he' and/or 'she' and 'his' and/or her'. I think its infinitely preferable to this weird 's/he 'or 'his or her' - that to me is loopy pc.We aren't bugged in English with the gender of nouns as to whether they are French le/la or German der/die/das. Of Spanish, Conchita, I know nothing like Basil's poor downtrodden waiter, so help me there. What I'm getting at, admittedly hamfistedly, is I would say/write: Each child likes to take their favourite toy to school (here of course I'm talking about the tots not the bigguns) rather than getting all tongue tied and twisted with his/her and the like. I do believe it messes things up if you have to keep that lark up.

Alan

PS
Margaret Doyle has compiled a corker of a book called: The A-Z of non-sexist Language, which is very illuminating. She's an American lady who currently lives in London and among her varied activities is that of being a voluntary mediator for neighbour disputes. Maybe I should give her a call and she could help me quell my desire to assassinate the barking dogs belonging to the neighbours two doors down. If I had the power to cast spells, both dogs would long since have been dead meat!
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Athenaxcy]

[Mila562]

Why not shake hands with sb?

[Torsten]

[Torsten]

[Infin1ty]

[Tatiana23]

Hello..
Ok! I was confused about when we use by or with, but now I'm clear with your explanation.

Thank you!!!

Tatiana

[AmYankee]