shook my hand? a third?

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Jisu98

#507923 Thu, 01 May 08 01:23 AM

Hello!

What is the meaning of "He shook my hand" ?

Does that mean He shook hands with me (Greeting gesture when people meet) ?

or just hold my hand and shook.

One more question:

Usually the first, the second, the third..will be right expressions. Right? Do you use a third frequently?

Teach me the difference of 'the third' and 'a third', please! thank you

Jisu98

Joined on Tue, Dec 6 2005

Korea

Full Member (183)

Expressions

Philip

#507927 Thu, 01 May 08 01:40 AM

shook my hand = greeting

THIRD: with no context, here is an attempt.

A third of the people in attendance were under the age of 50. (two-thirds were older)

The third person in line was drunk, so they didn't let him into the theatre. (two people were ahead of him)

Philip

Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005

USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)

Veteran Member (6,282)

At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen

Avangi

#507931 Thu, 01 May 08 01:50 AM

I tried to run away. Two big guys were right on my heels. A third was close behind. Finally the third guy dropped back. / / I think two cases of beer will be plenty, but it might not be a bad idea to bring a third, just to be sure. / / Did Brahms write a third symphony?

(also) a third of a cup of flour

"We shook hands" is more common, and that would be reciprocated. "He shook my hand" usually indicates that he took the initiative. It would also apply where A offers his hand, not knowing if B will accept. (Perhaps they'd had a fight.) When B responds favorably, A would say, "B shook my hand."

It would also apply when in the presence of a famous person, indicating surprise or great pleasure at the honor: "He shook my hand!" It's understood that the act is always reciprocal. Grasping someone's hand and shaking it, and having the person not respond in any way, is a terrible experience.

Avangi

Joined on Mon, Nov 19 2007

Senior Member (3,682)

". . . le plaisir delicieux et toujours nouveau d'une occupation inutile." - Henri de Regnier

Yoong Liat

#507935 Thu, 01 May 08 02:15 AM

Hi Jisu98

I think you are wondering what is the difference between a third time and the third time. If what I think is correct, the following is for your information.

The third edition is in two parts: the Third Edition of MASS was published ... Springer's information has shown some confusion: at one time this volume was ...
www.stats.ox.ac.uk/pub/MASS3/ - 11k - Cached - Similar pages File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML

Note of the third meeting of the working party for the Disability ... Concerns were expressed about late diagnosis of dyslexia leaving no time to put ...
www.admin.ox.ac.uk/eop/disab/DES%20wp%20minutes%203.pdf - Similar pages

We explore a third option, perfectly consistent with Malament's conception of the meaning of 'time reversal': according to this third account, the E field, ...
users.ox.ac.uk/~orie1779/discgroup/Abstracts.html - 15k - Cached - Similar pages

A third time, Šuruppag gave instructions to his son. ... 152A. na de5 ab-ba niĝ2 kal-la-am3 /gu2\-zu ḫe2-em-ši-ak, A third time, Šuruppag gave instructions ...
www-etcsl.orient.ox.ac.uk/edition2/usingintro.php - 9k - Cached - Similar pages

Yoong Liat

Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006

Singapore

Veteran Member (6,085)

Yoong Liat

Difference between

Jisu98

#507977 Thu, 01 May 08 03:58 AM

Thank you Philip, Avangi and Yoong Liat!

Was a great help.

For 'the third' vs 'a third', My question was answered by Avangi. Thank you!

Jisu98

Avangi

#508001 Thu, 01 May 08 05:11 AM

You're welcome, Jisu.

I just read the post again. Never thought much about it, but now I realize it can be very tricky, or confusing. If I may, I'd like to stress one point:

When there are only two people or things in a group, and you're talking about adding another one, you're looking for any one which will make it three. It's not a specific one. It's indefinite, hence we use the indefinite article "a." I just drank two glasses of beer. I think I'll have a third one.

But once that glass becomes part of the group, making three, It's no longer indefinite. That was the third glass of beer I drank tonight. We're now talking about a specific glass - a definite one.

That doesn't mean if there are three friends, Joe is #1, Bill is #2, and Ed is #3. A minute ago I saw three of you. Now there are only two. What happened to the third guy? We're talking about a definite guy. But if the speaker isn't sure, and he thinks maybe there are only two, he'd say, "Hey, didn't I see a third guy a minute ago?"

And now that we know Brahms wrote four symphonies, the third symphony will always be the third one he wrote.

Avangi

Yoong Liat

#508005 Thu, 01 May 08 05:22 AM

Hi Avangi

That was the third glass of beer I drank tonight.

Just to confirm: Shouldn't it be That was the third glass of beer I had drunk tonight. ?

Yoong Liat

Avangi

#508016 Thu, 01 May 08 06:22 AM

Hi Yoong,

I'm thinking simple past. Two things happened sort of simultaneously: I drank it, and it became number three. I don't think the previous two beers enter into the action. Tell me how you're looking at it (?) (I'm not necessarily looking at the previous example sentence as providing time context. Maybe I should be.)

- A.