English Exercises > prepositions exercises

Among or between?




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AMONG OR BETWEEN?
 
 
 black pig among pink ones between
 
 
1. Compare:

A   She was sitting between John and Sebastian.
     I saw something lying between the wheels of the train. Switzerland lies between France, Italy
    Austria and Germany.
She was standing laughing among a crowd of journalists. We found a little house hidden among the trees.

We say that something is between two or more objects, people, countries and so on when we see the surrounding objects etc separately, there are not very many of them, and each one is clearly distinct from the others.

We say that something is among a mass, a crowd, or a group: a collection of things which we do not see separately.
We prefer between when we want to say that there are things, or groups of things, on two sides:
 
A little valley between high mountains.

2.
  Words like divide and share are followed by between when we use several singular nouns:

    He shared his property between his wife, his daughter, and his sister.
    I divide my time between teaching, writing and lecturing


    With plural nouns, between and among are both possible: He divided his money between/among his five sons.

   We always talk about the difference between things: What's the difference between a crow and a  rook?

3.  Among can be used to mean 'one of, 'some of or 'included in'.
   
 Among the first to arrive was the Fantasian ambassador. He has a number of criminals among his friends.

 
 Choose among or between

  1. It is very popular among between  collectors and dealers because it's rare.
  2. Among Between the two women the air had thickened with utter hatred.
  3. During the daytime I just walk among between mankind for the sake of appearances.
  4. Neither at work nor among between her neighbours did she say anything to a soul
  5. Robert stepped aside, a whole dark space among between him and the giant hound.
  6. Documentary errors run at four per cent among between auctioneers.
  7. Charley was standing in the doorway holding a sheet of paper delicately among between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand as if it were either very fragile or very dirty.
  8. So let's get things cleared up among between us, shall we?
  9. Among Between the flowers lay a card with the inscription: …
  10. Now he was running across the carriageway, dodging among between braking cars, leaving an audio-trail of blaring horns and swearing drivers.