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03-08-2008, 07:56 PM
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#1
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Prolific Writer
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Gender: Male
Posts: 288
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Among/Amongst Toward/Towards
Well what's the lowdown? Is there any difference?  |
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03-08-2008, 08:02 PM
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#2
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Ink Slinger
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Crossmaglen, Ireland.
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,319
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Among is chiefly British. Amongst is more American-ised. Same with the other two. Towards is the North American spelling, and toward is British. They're all prepositions.
Sam.
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03-08-2008, 08:13 PM
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#3
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Moderator
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Location, Location
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,180
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Hmm. I don't know the answer.
While-whilst; among-amongst; amid-amidst; there's a pattern there, but I can't think of any situation where the second is preferable to the first.
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03-08-2008, 08:26 PM
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#4
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Prolific Writer
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Gender: Male
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Well in that case I'll keep using the shorter ones since it's apparently the UK spelling.
But I'd like to hear more responses to get a more solid diagnosis  |
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03-08-2008, 08:37 PM
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#5
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Ink Slinger
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: AmbientArtists
Gender: Private
Posts: 3,675
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The difference results from lingual shifts, and now-extinct cases in old english nouns. There is no difference in modern speech.
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Crap! Haven't posted it anywhere yet, darn!
"Only tyranny cloaks itself in shadows. The light of justice can not be hidden."
www.theoddvillepress.com
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03-09-2008, 08:02 AM
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#6
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Prolific Writer
Join Date: Aug 2007
Gender: Female
Posts: 477
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among or amongst
Some people make a distinction between these, using amongst with verbs that imply movement: we stood among the trees but: we walked amongst the trees; the money was shared out amongst the members. There is no need to do so; either form can be used in any context. See also between.
Dictionary of English - among <i>or</i> amongst
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03-09-2008, 08:10 AM
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#7
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Moderator
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Location, Location
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Thanks for the British English source, RR. Anyone have a US English equivalent, just to confirm there are no dialect differences here?
__________________
How many of you believe in psychokinesis? Raise my hand.
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03-09-2008, 08:32 AM
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#8
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Prolific Writer
Join Date: Aug 2007
Gender: Female
Posts: 477
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These two words are interchangeable, but “toward” is more common in the U.S. and “towards” in the U.K.
~~ toward/towards
I've got no concrete source to cite, but "amongst" seems more formal to me. In an historical romance, set in Victorian times, I use "amongst". For a modern romance, I use "among". Never been dinged by editors for that division.
__________________
I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalog: "No good in a bed, but fine against a wall." --- Eleanor Roosevelt
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