[Grammar] Between or Among?

[Ferdie11]

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]

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]

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]

'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.

 

[Rover_KE]

Look here for more answers to this question.

Rover

 

[TheParser]

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

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***** 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.