Today I was cut off in the middle of the following sentence:
Between Cook, Strauss, and Pietersen—
My friend said I was wrong. He said that for more than two entities, among/amongst are used, and that between is only for two entities.
I vaguely remember some rule like this, but I asked him to hear the whole sentence, which was:
Between Cook, Strauss, and Pietersen, they’ve notched up 56 centuries in Test cricket.
Should I have used among here? Seems correct to me to use between, but my friend was certain.
Another friend pointed out the following sentence:
I’m still choosing between Harvard, Yale, and MIT.
Certainly among doesn’t seem to fit here, and she, to me, was correct in using between.
Best Answer
GrammarGirl did a whole post on this. She explains that there is a difference between between and among. She writes:
She goes on to explain that in the following cases, you use the two slightly differently:
From this, you were correct in your use of between. "Cook et. al." formed part of a distinct group of individuals, so you would use between.