Hello all!

It’s time for us to conquer another confusing word pair. This week’s culprit is further and farther. Most everyone is stymied when it comes to figuring out which of these words to use when, probably because their definitions and usage are almost identical. Both are used to indicate distance from something, whether physical or metaphorical, so most of us wind up using them more or less interchangeably. But there’s a simple trick to knowing which one is actually correct in which case!

In cases where you’re talking about a physical distance that can be measured, use farther. In all other cases, use further. So, The store is two miles farther down the road but The setback put him further from his dream than he’d ever been. Even better than this simple rule is the simple way to remember it: “far” indicates a distance (e.g., How far did he run?), so farther goes with physical distances.

And that’s all there is to it! I hope this little trick will help resolve the further vs. farther quandary for you for good.

Until next time!