Between vs Among | Know the difference between 'Between' and 'Among'
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Between vs Among: What's the Difference?
Between and Among are prepositions. In general, the
preposition 'Between' is used when talking about
two people or things or places and the preposition 'Among' is
used when we talk about
more than two people or things or places.
Now, let's use these two commonly confused prepositions in different
sentences:
1) Tom is standing betweenJohn and Jack. (Here Tom is
standing between two boys.)
2) Our village is located betweenthe mountains and the sea.
3) There was a man standing betweenthe river and the mountains.
4) Tom is standing amongthe girls. (Here the number of girls is more than two. Tom is
surrounded by girls.)
Or,
You can say:
Tom is standing betweentwo girls.
5) There is a temple among the trees.
6) Money was distributed between me and my brother.
7) My parents lived in London between 2002 and 2012.
8) John was reading newspapers between 8am and 9:30am.
But,
The above-mentioned general rule is not always true. There are some
considerations that you must have to keep in mind:
[It's not always true that we should use the preposition
'Between' when there are two things or elements and
'Among' when there are more than two things or elements. You can also
use the preposition 'Between' when there are more than two
separate or distinct elements or things involved]
A) 'Between' is also used to refer to more than two people or things
(When talking about more than two people or things) which are considered as
separate, distinct, specific or individual (Here the things
are clearly separated).
For Example,
1) The peace treaties between America, China, and Russia
are signed today. [Here the countries are specific.]
2) There is a football match between India, New Zealand and
Australia. [Here the countries are specific and all three countries can't
participate in a match at the same time. Only two countries can
participate in a match at a time.]
3) The upcoming football match would be played between twelve
teams. [Here we are talking about twelve teams and
each team is separate and distinct.]
4) The property should be divided between Tom, John, Jack and
George.
* You can use 'Between' when there are multiple paired relationships in a
group (When "Multiple one-to-one relationships are understood from the
context.")
For Example,
1) Negotiations between the neighbouring countries are going well.
[Here the negotiation with one another is going well]
Or,
You can also say:
Negotiation between these two neighbouring countries is going
well.
B)The preposition 'Among' is used when we talk about people or
things which are not clearly separated (Here the people or things are
not distinct, they are considered as a group):
For Examples,
1) The recent trade agreements among European countries
are going well. [Countries are not specified here, there are many
countries in Europe.]
2) There is a cricket match among the Asian countries.
3) The sweets should be distributed among the children.
4) Money was distributed among poor people.
5) Money was distributed among me, my sisters and my brothers.
6) I have found a crime storybook among his old books.
7) Don't worry, you are among the good friends.
8) There should be a good understanding among the council
members.
9) There was a misunderstanding among the team members.
* We should use 'Between' when referring to two or more things
which are
separate, distinct or have specific relationships.
* We should use 'Among' when referring to more than two people
which are not separate (They are indistinct and
have no specific relationships.
They are part of a group.)
Important Notes:
* There are certain words (Nouns and Verbs) which are followed by the
preposition 'between' only. They are not followed by 'Among':
The following words are followed by 'Between':
Distinguish, Divide, Differentiate, Connection, Link, Relationship,
Distinction, etc.
Look at the following sentences to understand this better:
1) There is no connectionbetween all the
incidents.
2) Is there any differencebetween the brothers?
3) This is the differencebetween You, me and her.
4) The property would be dividedbetween his two/four
sons.
5) Distinguishbetween diamond, gold and silver.
6) There is a deep relationshipbetween George and
Mary.
7) There is no distinctionbetween John and his
brothers.
* If the location of someone or something is specific:
We should use 'Between':
For Example,
1) Bhutan lies between India and China.
2) Bangladesh lies between India, Myanmar and the Bay of
Bengal.
* If the location is not specific: We should use
'Among':
