[Grammar] Preposition ‘between’ usage

[northpath]

Does the sentence
We collected $150 between us.
indicates that there were just two of us.
Otherwise the sentence would be
We collected $150 among us.
No?

 

[jutfrank]

No. With the first sentence, there could be two or more people. The second sentence doesn't work.

 

[GoesStation]

Some grammarians used to insist that between could only refer to two items and among was required for more than two. Actual usage never followed this rule.

For example, suppose a satellite is placed in an orbit such that it remains stationary with respect to the earth, the moon, and the sun. Nobody would describe it as being among those three objects. It's clearly between them.

 

[Rover_KE]

Here it is for those who will only be convinced by reading it in a dictionary:

By strict or traditional usage rules, among expresses relationship when more than two are involved, and between is used for only two: to decide among coffee, tea, juice, or milk;
to decide between tea and coffee. between, however, continues to be used to express relationship of persons or things considered individually, no matter how many: Between holding public office, teaching, and raising a family, she has little free time. And between is always used to express location or position in the middle of any number of things that are limits or boundaries around the point: This city is located at a point between New York, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. Although not usually accepted as good usage, between you and I is heard occasionally in the speech of educated persons. By the strict rules of grammar, any and all pronouns that are the object of a preposition must be in the objective case: between you and me;
between her and them.
(Random House)

 

[jutfrank]

The '-tween' part of the word means (or used to mean) two.