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Between and Among - 2 groups or 2 items

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Between and Among - 2 groups or 2 items

by whitney » Wed Jul 24, 2013 3:35 am
Hi LunarPower-

I just read your response to a post on between/among here: https://www.beatthegmat.com/between-vs-among-t69113.html

And had a quick clarifying question on the following example:

"Electronic pets are more common among girls than boys."

Is "among" used because there are multiple girls and multiple boys, so more than 2 items? Is it true that the rule is more than 2 individual items, so 2 groups doesn't count?

Thanks in advance!
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by [email protected] » Wed Jul 24, 2013 6:32 pm
Hi whitney,

Your post leads me to believe that you're trying to lump in an idiom rule with a pronoun rule. You also have to think about the "intent" of the sentence.

The word 'between' is used for two individuals.
The word 'among' is used for any number greater than two.

So, in your example:

"Electronic pets are more common among girls than boys."; this sentence is referencing *all* girls, which is clearly more than two. The word "among" would be the correct usage. The intent of this sentence is NOT to compare 2 individuals, it's to compare all of one group to all of another.

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by lunarpower » Sat Jul 27, 2013 4:41 am
whitney wrote:Is "among" used because there are multiple girls and multiple boys, so more than 2 items?
Yes. It's an entirely context-based difference.
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