Month: December 2007

“Between” vs. “Among”

Common English Blunders, Prepositions, Versus

I often hear people use “between” when they mean “among”.

Problem:
The preposition “between” should not be used when expressing a relationship for three or more items.

Explanation:
The preposition “between” means in the space separating (two people, objects, etc.) or intermediate to. The primary definition of the preposition “among” is in the midst of.

If you look up the origin of “between”, you see that the tw in “between” is related to the tw in “two”. You can use this as a mnemonic to remind you that you should use “between” when expressing a relationship for two items and therefore that you should use “among” otherwise (for three or more items).

Solution:
Use “between” when you’re talking about two items; use “among” when you’re talking about three or more items.

“Second of all,”

Adjectives, Adverbs, Common English Blunders

My wife heard this on the radio.

Problem:
The phrase “Second of all,” sounds strained and is otherwise problematic.

Explanation:
The phrase “First of all,” is a popular way to introduce an enumeration because “of all” stresses that one is about to provide an enumeration. For example, First of all, I don’t like beef. stresses to the listener or reader that there will be an enumeration and that what followed “First of all,” was the first item (“I don’t like beef.”) in the enumeration.

Following a use of “First of all,” with a use of “Second of all,”

  • sounds strained,
  • reduces the power of “First of all,” by making the listener or reader wonder whether every item in the enumeration will include “of all”, and
  • does not add anything to saying or writing “Second,”.

Note that it is not appropriate to introduce the second item in an enumeration with the adverbial form “Secondly,” (just as “Firstly,” is not appropriate for beginning the first item in an enumeration).

Solution:
“Second,”

“Jon is suppose to present it.”

Common English Blunders, Devolution toward Simpler, Passive Voice, Verbs

I saw this in an instant message.

Problem:
The verb “suppose” is incorrect here.

Explanation:
The statement is written in abbreviated passive voice, albeit incorrectly. The subject of the sentence (Jon) is acted on by a verb, and we do not know who is supposing that Jon will “present it”. A statement in active voice must identify the person who is supposing that Jon will “present it”.

“Jane supposes that Jon will present it.” is an example of a statement in active voice. We get “Jon is supposed by Jane to present it.” when we rearrange the statement to put it into passive voice. Abbreviating this statement, we correctly get “Jon is supposed to present it.” in abbreviated passive voice.

In other words, “supposed” — not “suppose” — is the passive form of the verb “to suppose”.

I believe that the use of “suppose” instead of “supposed” when the latter is appropriate represents

  • ignorance about passive voice, and
  • a laziness that favors more easily pronounced words.

The word “suppose” is easier than the word “supposed” to say. Throw in a lack of understanding how sentences in the active voice are converted to sentences in the passive voice or abbreviated passive voice, and it’s no wonder that some English speakers choose “suppose” (incorrectly) instead of “supposed” in a statement made in the passive voice or abbreviated passive voice.

Solution:
“Jon is supposed to present it.”