Between vs An - What's the difference?
between | an |
In the position or interval that separates (two things), or intermediate in quantity or degree. (See the Usage notes below.)
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*:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between ; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)
, title= Done together or reciprocally.
:
*{{quote-book, year=1935, author=
, title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=1
, passage=She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill.}}
Shared in confidence.
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In transit from (one to the other, or connecting places).
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Combined (by effort or ownership).
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One of (representing a choice).
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A kind of needle, shorter than a sharp, with a small rounded eye, used for making fine stitches on heavy fabrics.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=2
, passage=Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines.}}
(UK, non-standard) used in many British regional accents before some words beginning with a pronounced h
(archaic) If, so long as.
(archaic) as if; as though.
In each; to or for each; per.
As nouns the difference between between and an
is that between is a kind of needle, shorter than a sharp, with a small rounded eye, used for making fine stitches on heavy fabrics while an is favor, grace.As a preposition between
is in the position or interval that separates (two things), or intermediate in quantity or degree (see the usage notes below).between
English
Alternative forms
* betweene (archaic) * betwene (archaic) * (abbreviation)Preposition
(English prepositions)Geothermal Energy, volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame.}}
George Goodchild
Usage notes
* Some groups of non-native speakers confuse between'' and ''among''. It is sometimes said that ''between'' usually applies to two things, while ''among'' applies to more than two things. This is not correct; according to the Oxford English Dictionary (quoted at http://eebweb.arizona.edu/faculty/chesson/between_and_among.htm) "In all senses, ''between'' has been, from its earliest appearance, extended to more than two. In OE. and ME. it was so extended in sense 1, in which ''among'' is now considered better. It is still the only word available to express the relation of a thing to many surrounding things severally and individually, ''among expressing a relation to them collectively and vaguely: we should not say ‘the space lying among the three points,’ or ‘a treaty among three powers,’ or ‘the choice lies among the three candidates in the select list,’ or ‘to insert a needle among the closed petals of a flower".Synonyms
* atween (archaic) * atwixDerived terms
* (between)See also
* betwixt * amongNoun
(en noun)Statistics
*an
English
(wikipedia an)Etymology 1
From (etyl) .Article
(head)Usage notes
* The article (an) is used before vowel sounds and (optionally) before silent aitches, and (a) before consonant sounds. * The various article senses of (a), all are senses of (term).Etymology 2
From (etyl) anConjunction
(English Conjunctions)- An it please you, my lord.
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge , The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere (Original Version of 1797) 61-64:
- At length did cross an Albatross, Thorough the Fog it came; And an it were a Christian Soul, We hail'd it in God's Name.
Etymology 3
.Etymology 4
From the (etyl) preposition an/on.Preposition
(English prepositions)- I was only going twenty miles an hour.
