{"id":2290,"date":"2015-10-15T09:00:49","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T16:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=2290"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:45:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:45:04","slug":"among-vs-between","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/among-vs-between\/","title":{"rendered":"Among vs. Between"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here at Magoosh TOEFL, we\u2019ve already given you some posts on words that sound the same<\/a> but have different meanings<\/a>. Today, we\u2019re going to look at a pair of words that sound very different, but have meanings that are almost<\/em> the same. Among<\/em> and between<\/em> both refer to the position of things, or the way that things are shared. But these words have slightly different meanings and uses. Here are the rules for using among<\/em> and between<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rule 1: Things can only be among<\/em> or between<\/em> two or more things.<\/h2>\n

When you say that X <\/em>is among or between Y<\/em>, then Y<\/em> cannot be a singular noun.<\/p>\n

For example, suppose you looked up in the sky and saw a bunch of UFOs (alien spaceships) flying through the clouds. If you wanted to explain what you saw to someone else, you could say \u201cThere are UFOs between<\/em> the clouds!\u201d Or you could say \u201cThere are UFOs among<\/em> the clouds!\u201d But it wouldn\u2019t make sense for you to say \u201cI saw alien spaceships among<\/em> the sky\u201d or \u201cOne of the alien spaceships is between<\/em> the biggest cloud.\u201d Those sentences would just sound weird<\/em>, because they wouldn\u2019t be grammatical.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rule 2: When talking about a small and very specific group of things, you should only use between.<\/em><\/h2>\n

In some cases, between<\/em> and among<\/em> are interchangeable (see rule 3 below). However, when something is physically in the middle of a small, specific grouping of things, you should only use between<\/em>. Imagine again that you are looking at those alien spaceships in the sky. Then imagine one of the ships lands in the middle of three trees in front of your house. You could tell your neighbor \u201cThe spaceship landed between those three trees.\u201d But it would sound strange, incorrect<\/em> to say \u201cThe spaceship landed among<\/em> those three trees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, let\u2019s say the aliens got out of their UFO and started to talk to you and your neighbor. They could say \u201cWe want peace between<\/em> our planet and yours.\u201d This would be a perfectly acceptable thing to say. But if the aliens said \u201cWe want peace among<\/em> our planet and yours,\u201d that wouldn\u2019t be an OK thing to say. You\u2019d need to correct the aliens\u2019 grammar, because something can only be shared between<\/em> two very specific planets, not among<\/em> them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rule 3: When talking about a larger, more general group, you can use either between<\/em> or among<\/em>.<\/h2>\n

Both between<\/em> and among<\/em> can be used to refer to something that is in the middle of a large, not-so-specific group of objects, or something that is shared by a large group or people or things.<\/p>\n

So, while the aliens couldn\u2019t tell you that they wanted peace among<\/em> earth and their home planet, they would have other opportunities to use the word among<\/em> as they talked to you and your neighbor. The aliens might tell you that they want peace among<\/em> all humans and all aliens. But they wouldn\u2019t have to tell you that. It would be just as acceptable for them to say that they wanted peace between<\/em> all humans and aliens. Either one would be fine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bringing it all together in a picture<\/h2>\n

All three rules for using \u201camong\u201d and \u201cbetween\u201d are illustrated in the picture below. Hopefully this example helps you see how all of these rules really work together:
\n\"avb_img1\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here at Magoosh TOEFL, we\u2019ve already given you some posts on words that sound the same but have different meanings. Today, we\u2019re going to look at a pair of words that sound very different, but have meanings that are almost the same. Among and between both refer to the position of things, or the way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13604],"tags":[13621],"ppma_author":[13630],"class_list":["post-2290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vocab","tag-video"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAmong vs. Between - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/among-vs-between\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Among vs. Between\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here at Magoosh TOEFL, we\u2019ve already given you some posts on words that sound the same but have different meanings. 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Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS and MA from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew"],"knowsAbout":["TOEFL","IELTS","TOEIC","PET","FCE","BULATS","Eiken","SAT","ACT","GRE","GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English","Italian"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/davidr\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13630,"user_id":80,"is_guest":0,"slug":"davidr","display_name":"David Recine","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Recine","first_name":"David","description":"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT.\r\n\r\nDavid has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C50&q=Recine+magoosh&btnG=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> many scholarly articles<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/minds.wisconsin.edu\/handle\/1793\/65479\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> his Master's Thesis<\/a> is featured on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingwithpictures.org\/2013\/09\/research-highlight-teaching-english-language-learners-with-comics\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Reading with Pictures<\/a> website, and he's presented at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.witesol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-WITESOL-Program-FINAL-10-28-14.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> WITESOL (link to PDF)<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/interoff\/docs\/nafsaregionv_2014conference\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> NAFSA<\/a> conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru.\r\n\r\nCome join David and the Magoosh team on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew\"> Youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\"> Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en\"> Instagram<\/a>, or connect with him via<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/\"> LinkedIn<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2290"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}