BETWEEN : AMONG


Topic 22

BETWEEN : AMONG

The chief uses of between are:
(1) to indicate position in space or limits.

* A river flows between its banks.
* How many stations are there between London and Oxford?

Between normally indicate only two limits, but when boundaries are concerned, the number may be more than two. Between (not among) is correct in:
* Switzerland lies between France, Italy, Austria, and Germany.

(2) to indicate position in time:
* Please come between one o’clock and three o’clock.
* He lived in Canada between the two World Wars.

(3) to indicate limits of distance quantity etc.:
* Between five and six kilometres, between thirty and forty tons.
* Between freezing point and boiling point.

(4) to indicate sharing (used of two only):
* Share the money between you and Mary.
* Between you and me (i.e. in confidence), I think he is rather foolish.

(5) to indicate connection or relationship:
* The relationship between teacher and pupil; the distinction between right and wrong; to draw a comparison between two things.

(6) to indicate combination (used of two or more):
* Between them the men soon finished the work.
* The first five batsmen scored 253 runs between them.

(7) Between … and … means owing partly to … and partly to …

* Between astonishment and despair she hardly knew what to do or say.

The chief uses of among (or, less often, amongst) are:

(1) to indicate position, meaning ‘in the middle of’, ‘surrounded by’ (more than two). Note that the noun or pronoun after among must be plural.

* A village among the hill; a house standing among trees; sitting among her children; hiding among the bushes.

(2) to indicate inclusion, association; connection. (Note that the noun or pronoun must be plural)
* She was glad to be among friends again.
* I noted, among other faults, several spelling errors.

(3) to indicate sharing, joint activity, etc., by more than two persons.
* They quarrelled among themselves.
* They had less than ten pounds among them (i.e. all of them together had less than ten pounds).

(4) (before a superlative) one of:
* He is among the best novelists in this country today.
* Coventry is among the largest industrial towns in England.