Hello everyone!

I’m back with another tricky word pair. Today we’re going to unlock the mystery of when to use among and when to use between, two words that have essentially the same function and meaning–which is what makes them so confusing!

We know that both words are prepositions used to indicate something that is in, through, shared, or held in common with something else (or multiple something elses). For example, She couldn’t decide between the two choices and Tom, Dick, and Harry shared the pizza among themselves. But how do you know when to use among and when to use between?

Great news! There is an incredibly simple answer: When there are only two somethings, use between; when there are more than two somethings, use among. So, we say She couldn’t decide between the two choices because there are only two choices, and we say Tom, Dick, and Harry shared the pizza among themselves because there are more than two people sharing. This rule applies no matter the somethings we’re talking about. And how can you remember that? What helps me is that the twe in between looks a lot like the number two, so I use the preposition with the two(e) in it for two somethings and the other one for everything else!

I hope you find this tip helpful, and that no lingering confusion over this word pair comes between you and your writing! Until next time!