Among Usage

[abcgmat]

Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Transvaal to photograph the art of Ndebele women, whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house.A. whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house
B. whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and their style is varying among women and houses
C. whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography,and they are in styles that vary from woman to woman and house to house
D. with murals brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their style varies among women and houses
E. with murals that are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their styles vary among women and houses
[spoiler]OA:A[/spoiler]

At the annual stockholders meeting, investors heard a presentation on the numerous challenges facing the
company, including among them the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the company's powerful microprocessor chip.
A. including among them the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for
B. which includes the threat of a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales of C. included among these the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for
D. among them the threat of a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of
E. among these the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the
decline in sales for

[spoiler]OA:D[/spoiler]

I was under the impression that
Among should always be followed by X,Y, and Z (more than 2 items)
And Between should be followed by X and Y ( two items)

So For first question I picked A
Where as in second I picked B which is incorrect

Could you help me understand when the use of Among is correct
and what I am missing to understand

[Mike@Magoosh]

I was under the impression that Among should always be followed by X,Y, and Z (more than 2 items) and Between should be followed by X and Y ( two items)

Could you help me understand when the use of Among is correct and what I am missing to understand

Dear abcgmat,
I'm happy to help with this.

First of all, the good news is --- your basic understanding quite correct --- when there are two objects, you use "between", and when there are more than two, you use "among."

Consider these three sentence structures, all correct.

1) I have to choose between A and B.

2) I have to choose among A, B, C, and D.

3) I have to choose from a wide variety of items, including among them A and B.

4) I have several favorite books, including among them Joyce's Finnegans Wake.

Sentences #1 & #2 are straightforward applications of the rule just cited.

Sentences #3 & #4 have a more subtle grammatical construction. Notice, in both cases, that the object of the preposition "among" is the pronoun "them", which (as implied by the phrase "wide variety" or "several") consists of more than two items. Therefore, the use of "among" is perfectly correct. In this construction, "A and B" and "Joyce's Finnegans Wake" are direct objects of the verb "including" ---- it doesn't matter how many direct objects that verb has. What matters for the between/among distinction is purely the number of objects of that prepositional phrase, nothing more.

This is where your language "is followed by" can get you in trouble --- that phrase is not focused enough to follow the subtleties of grammar. Remember, in some ways, grammar is as precise as mathematics. Don't think of it as: "between" is followed by 2 words, and "among" is followed by more than 2. Instead, think in terms of objects of the prepositional phrase. Grammar is never purely about position --- it's always about the logical of interrelationship.

Does all this make sense?

Here's a blog on a marginally related topic that you may find helpful.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-gramm ... n-english/

Let me know if you have any more questions. Best of luck to you.

Mike

[confuse mind]

Source please???

Margaret Courtney-Clarke has traveled to remote dwellings in the Transvaal to photograph the art of Ndebele women, whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house.A. whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography and in a style that varies from woman to woman and house to house
B. whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography, and their style is varying among women and houses
C. whose murals are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries are embellished with old and new iconography,and they are in styles that vary from woman to woman and house to house
D. with murals brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their style varies among women and houses
E. with murals that are brilliantly colored, their geometrical symmetries embellished with old and new iconography, and their styles vary among women and houses
[spoiler]OA:A[/spoiler]

At the annual stockholders meeting, investors heard a presentation on the numerous challenges facing the
company, including among them the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the company's powerful microprocessor chip.
A. including among them the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for
B. which includes the threat of a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales of C. included among these the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for
D. among them the threat of a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of
E. among these the threat from a rival's multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the
decline in sales for

[spoiler]OA:D[/spoiler]

I was under the impression that
Among should always be followed by X,Y, and Z (more than 2 items)
And Between should be followed by X and Y ( two items)

So For first question I picked A
Where as in second I picked B which is incorrect

Could you help me understand when the use of Among is correct
and what I am missing to understand

[abcgmat]

Hi Mike,

Thanks a lot for the great explanation.
In first '..their style varies among women and houses...'

-- Here since among(preposition) is followed by object (women and houses), and since each is plural it is ok to have among
Is my understand correct?


Hi confuse mind ,
I got these questions from beatthegmat forum

[Mike@Magoosh]

In first '..their style varies among women and houses...'

-- Here since among(preposition) is followed by object (women and houses), and since each is plural it is ok to have among
Is my understand correct?

Yes, that is correct. The only thing I would say --- to make clear that we are not comparing women to houses (at least as bad as comparing apples to oranges!), we really should say "among women and among house" to make clear that the comparisons (women vs. women, house vs. house) are separate. But yes, plural object, so "among" is correct.

Mike