[Grammar] Between or Among?

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Ferdie11

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Hello,

Shouldn't we use among instead of between in the sentence below?

I was just proud I could distinguish between the symbols for Toyota, Ford, and Chevy.

Thanks for your help.​
 

billmcd

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Hello,​


Shouldn't we use among instead of between in the sentence below?

I was just proud I could distinguish between the symbols for Toyota, Ford, and Chevy.

Thanks for your help.

Yes. But most often you will hear "between" for three or more entities.
 

Raymott

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Hello,​



Shouldn't we use among instead of between in the sentence below?

I was just proud I could distinguish between the symbols for Toyota, Ford, and Chevy.

Thanks for your help.
No, I think "distinguish among" would be relatively uncommon.
I think you can only distinguish between two things at once, so distinguishing between multiple items means a list of serial distinctions or discriminations.
 

philo2009

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'Distinguish among' is becoming increasingly archaic, as are expressions such as 'relations among...'. Whether dealing with two or more items, as far as relational (as opposed to physical/locational) matters are concerned, 'between' is the preposition preferred by most contemporary users.
 
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Rover_KE

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Rover
 

TheParser

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I was just proud I could distinguish between the symbols for Toyota, Ford, and Chevy.



***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) Mr. Michael Swan in his Practical English Usage has some good clear advice for

us learners:

"We say that ... something is between two or more clearly separate ... things.
We use among when ... something is in a group ... which we do not see separately."

His examples:

Our house is between the woods, the river and the village.

His house is hidden among the trees.

(2) So I agree with the other posters that probably the "correct" sentence is:

I was so proud that I could distinguish BETWEEN the symbols for Toyota, Ford,

and Chevy.
 
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