Meaning of 'sort in' and 'sort by'

English as a Second Language English Teacher Explanations (ESL Tests)
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Test No. [color=blue]incompl/advan-32 “Letter Writing (4)”, question 7

When we eventually arrived at the hotel, we had to … our luggage at reception.

(a) sort out
(b) sort of
(c) sort in
(d) sort by

Test No. [color=blue]incompl/advan-32 “Letter Writing (4)”, answer 7

When we eventually arrived at the hotel, we had to sort out our luggage at reception.

Correct answer: (a) sort out

Hello, explain, please meaning of ‘sort in’ and ‘sort by’.
Thank you
Zulfiya

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Hi Zulfiya,

Let me give you some examples:

‘I want you to sort these in order of size - put the biggest first, the second biggest next and so on’. Very often ‘in’ after ‘sort’ can mean as in that example, arranging things following a pattern or sequence.

‘I want you to sort these books by their category - novels on this shelf, autobigraphies on that shelf and handbooks here’. In this sense ‘by’ means according to.

Alan

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Hello Alan. Thank you
Zulfiya

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what is the meaning of sort out our luggage

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Hi,

This could mean (I say ‘could’ because I don’t know the context) that you have to find your luggage at an airport or wherever, which is all stacked with a lot of other luggage belonging to other passengers.

Alan