Learn English – further VS. more

word-choice

Please, would you give me some further coffee?

vs.

Please, would you give me some more coffee?

Could you think of when and/or where we could use further meaning more?

Thanks in advance.

Best Answer

(I'm only considering the interchangeability of further and more here, other meanings of further are no taken into account.)

  1. Use "further" when you want to express some range or degree, either physically or metaphorically.

    Examples:

    • further research: include new aspects, new methods, new data....
    • further down the road: from your position, extend down the road.

  2. Only "more" is correct, when you focus on a measurable amount, even with uncountable nouns.

    Examples:

    • more shoes
    • more coffee

    • more reputation on Stack Exchange

      Example in one sentence:

    • We need more money for further research.

  3. On interchangeability:

    When both extension and countability are correct, you can use "more" instead of further, but usually "further" sounds more polished.

    Example:

    • We need more research. / We need further research.
    • Move a few inches more to the right. / Move a few inches further to the right.
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