Between or between?

the use of between and between causes great confusion in people. The correct use of these two elements is essential for normative grammar.

Between and between are included in an extremely relevant morphological area for the establishment of syntactic relations in Portuguese, the prepositions.

Considering this, we emphasize a general context of the preposition, the contractions and correct uses of among and among.

General context of prepositions

We know that prepositions are invariable words that link two terms. These links originate subordination relationships (dependence) in which the second term is subordinated to the first.

During the links of ruling and ruled terms, prepositions establish relationship determinations.

The main relationships created by prepositions are: authorship, purpose, causality, origin, instrument, matter, mode, place, subject and others.

Example:

subordinating term 

• House
• I went back
• leaves

 Preposition

• in
• for
• with

subordinate term 

• bernard
• the hospital
• my boyfriend

Relationship 

• ownership
• from place
• of company

Prepositions are further divided into essential and accidental. Some essential prepositions like “to from in It is per” merge to form a single word. When this occurs there are two processes: combination and contraction.

In combination the preposition does not change, on the other hand, in contraction the preposition changes.

And it is in relation to this last process that we will approach the use ofbetween and between.

Contraction and use of among and among

The contraction is when the preposition is changed. This process takes place with the following prepositions:

• de+personal pronoun
• de+ articles
• de+adverbs
• in+articles
• em+demonstrative pronouns
• per+articles
• a+ demonstrative pronouns

• de+demonstrative pronouns
• de+indefinite pronoun
• a+feminine article

Regarding the among, there is a contraction of the from + between and means from the middle of.

The preposition entre is used to refer to expressions such as: leave, withdraw, resurface, remove, etc. These words are rulers.

Example:

• “The boy left among the rubble.”
• “The winner will be chosen among those who strive.”
• “Jesus is risen among physical death and shines even today in the world.”
• “The mimosa, elegant and intelligent lady has resurfaced among those unsophisticated women.”

We use between to refer to something between two people or circumstances whose purpose is to establish a sense of time and space.

Example:

• “My sister-in-law passed in between the gate and the dog.”
• “In between me and Fábio, nothing has existed for a long time.”
• “The young writer sitting in the last row is the most dedicated in between all aspirants to the craft of creative writing.”

Fixing the distinctions between these two prepositions is of extreme relevance to the correct establishment of the syntactic axes.

If when producing a text you emphasize correctly among It is in between your broker will be pleased, as he will understand that you are concerned with minute elements of normative grammar.

Now, for more information on this subject and related ones, see also:

• Portuguese errors are the main reason for eliminating candidates
• Us, agent or are there people?
• For me or for me?