[palizman]

pls answer me about this question?

this dress was made..... .
1- by hands
2- by hand
3- with hands
4- with hand
pls explanation reasons not to accept rest of answers .

thanks.

[susan53]

The answer is by hand. The questions that need to be answered are :

Why is it by and not with?
Why is the singular and not the plural used?
Why isn't there an article?

By is used to explain how something is done :

How do you want to pay, by cheque or by credit card.
I usually go to work by car but this morning I went by bus.
You can contact me by e-mail.
He made it by hand.

What's being described here is an abstract method - we're not talking about using a specific credit card, car or whatever. In this case by is followed by a singular noun and no article.

Compare that with :

He paid with a cheque.
He made it with his own hands.
He bombarded me with e-mails.
I couldn't find the scissors so I had to cut it with a knife.
He ploughed the field with the tractor which he had bought the week before.

Here we are talking about something that was used in a specific instance - not a general method. And this time with is used together with a relevant determiner such as an article, a number or a possessive adjective. And the noun is singular or plural depending on whether one or more specific objects were used.

There's often an overlap. For example :
He paid by cheque
He paid with a cheque.
mean exactly the same thing in the end. But the speaker has the choice of emphasising either the method (how he paid) or the specific object he used to pay (what he paid with). As always, in the end grammar is choice. It gives us ways of expressing different meanings. It's up to us to decide which way to choose.