Hello again!
Prepositions can be tricky in any language, including English. And English has a lot of them. But, don’t worry!
You’re probably thinking, “I would like to know the difference between “among” and “between.” That is an excellent question.
Before we get started, I try always to remind you that there is a big difference between READING English and SPEAKING English. So, when you are ready to SPEAK English just like an American, you only need to click here.
Now, back to our lesson for today.
Please take a look at this sentence: This week, I had a choice between this question and many others. But I chose this one. Did you see how I used “between”? You also used the word correctly when you asked about the “difference between” the words. Good job!
“Between” and “among” are two prepositions that generally mean “in the middle of two or more things.” But how do we know which to use?
Many English learners are taught that we use “between” for two things and “among” for three or more. Indeed, we usually use “between” to talk about separate things, as you and I did. However, the use of “between” is not limited to many things.
We use “among” to talk about things within a group. They are not separate. “Among” means “in or through a group of people or things.” Here are some sentences to compare: He chooses between Spanish, French and Italian.
He is choosing among the languages.
The word “between” named the languages while “among” spoke about them as part of a group. Now compare these: A liger is a hybrid between a lion and a tiger. Ligers are among the many animal hybrids in the world. The word “between” named the animals, while “among” spoke of them as part of a group.
A few things to note: Americans usually do not use the word “among” in everyday spoken English as it sounds a little formal.
Instead, we might use “between” or a different proposition. The word “between” is also used to talk about time, space, and other measurements. Such as in “Please arrive between 10 am and 1 pm”. And “There was a meter of space between my bike and the cars.”.
