By Catherine Welborn
Certain word pairs seem to throw a lot of people for a loop. We’re explaining some of them in our occasional series “Clarifying confusing word pairs.” This week we cover the tricky prepositions “within” and “among.”
Use “within” when you mean “inside of.” Example: “He was the best candidate within the group.” You could rewrite that sentence as “He was the best candidate inside of the group.” Use “among” when you mean to indicate similarities or differences. Example: “She was the best candidate among the applicants.” You could rewrite that sentence as “She was better than the other applicants.” Note that you could not say “He was better than the group” or “She was the best candidate inside of the applicants” without changing the meaning of the sentences or confusing your reader.
It’s worth mentioning that “within” can also be used as an adverb, but most people would never confuse it with “among” in those rare cases. Example: “He was startled by a cry from within.”
Which word pairs do you find most confusing?
A set that I’ve seen many folks confuse is “borrow”, “lend” and “loan.”
Rose, thank you for sharing your example! I’m familiar with the “lend”/”loan” issue, but I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone confuse “borrow” with them. Can you share an example? Is it as simple as someone saying “borrow” when they mean “lend” (or vice versa)? I’m so curious!