Distinguish between Furthermore and Moreover

[prasath.gm]

I would like to understand, where to use Furthermore and Moreover

 

[Rover_KE]

I would like to understand[delete comma] where to use 'furthermore' and 'moreover'.

Please study my corrections to your punctuation.

 

[jutfrank]

I do make a distinction and would suggest using them like this:

• furthermore simply introduces more, or additional (further) information

• moreover introduces further, but more important (over and above what has been said previously) information

 

[jutfrank]

The shortcomings of dictionaries (or ones like those at least). Remember whom dictionaries are compiled by, and for what reasons. And this is why people like us are here, isn't it?

 

[jutfrank]

Some of us, yes. But I wouldn't say less "reliable" exactly.

 

[ChinaDan]

Are you suggesting that the American Heritage, Cambridge, Collins, Macmillan, amd Merriam-Webster online dictionaries combined are less reliable than people like us expressing our opinions?

Actually, not to slander those dictionaries, but I do on occasion encounter definitions which I find to be lacking, perhaps simplistic or incomplete. I am not certain that the online cousins are faithful to their printed versions.

That said, I agree with you; I've never encountered any difference in the usage of these two phrases.

 

[teechar]

They are for the most part interchangeable, but in an essay with lots of such transition words, I tend to use "moreover" to introduce a new point and "furthermore" to add extra information about a particular point. However, I don't have a problem with people doing the opposite.

 

[jutfrank]

Why not make a distinction, as some people definitely do? Otherwise, what's the point of having two academic words for the same use? If you distinguish, you get two uses for the price of one.

 

[jutfrank]

If the majority of native speakers see no distinction, then any we try to enforce is artificial.

You really see it as ''enforcing''?

 

[ChinaDan]

Piscean just reminded me of something important.

I use have to and must (for obligation) and may and might (for possibility) in different ways. Other don't, so my distinction serves no real purpose.

Actually, it can. Anyone who becomes sufficiently familiar with Piscean, who speaks with him on a regular basis, will come to at least subliminally recognize a distinction in the way he chooses certain phrases over others.

This is the same phenomenon, I think, that allows me to quite easily understand most Chinese students, even when they are pronouncing poorly, making mistakes in grammar, sentence structure, gender pronouns, answer/question agreement, etc. Where there are consistent patterns to their mistakes, I have come to understand their intent, and can follow their conversation rather well.

When I first arrived here, I struggled badly with this matter.

It's a fairly narrow exception, but it's real just the same. If you have a clear, intended, consistent difference in your mind when you chose between possible phrases, those familiar with you at least might pick up on the subtle intent.

 

[jutfrank]

You can continue to use moreover and furthermore in different ways. Others may do the same, but those (the majority of us I suspect) who don't make the distinction are unlikely to change our ways.

I don't try to prescribe to native speakers and I don't expect you to change your ways. I'm saying that because there is a distinction in my mind, when my students ask me for advice on how to use furthermore and moreover to make their essays better, I suggest to them what I said in post #4. These people are quite likely to change their ways.

Once again we're touching on the issue of descriptive and prescriptive approaches. I don't particularly like to tell people what to do but as a teacher who is used to being asked every day by learners to tell them what to say, I end up feeling something like an advisor. That's the role that I think all of us essentially are here on this forum -- advisors of use of English. We advise (not necessarily 'prescribe') learners how to use English more effectively, based on what we think would be useful to them.