Among, Between
There’s a common and oddly persistent belief that between should be used only when there are two elements, and among should be used when there are more than two elements. But this rule is a myth—or, to be more charitable, it’s a great oversimplification. You can use between when there are more than two elements involved:
In fact, you can use between for any number of elements, as long as all the elements are separate and distinct. According to The Chicago Manual of Style, you can even use between when “multiple one-to-one relationships are understood from the context”:
Among is used when talking about people or things that are not distinct and are viewed as a group:
Among could indicate that something belongs to a group:
When referring to spatial relationships, among tells us that something is surrounded by something else:
(Description from Grammarly) |