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gs.abhinav
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between / among : which one to use here

by gs.abhinav Fri Jun 10, 2011 6:55 am

Source: None. This sentence is made up.

Acid hail and depositions result from the endocryogenic reactions between molecules of sulfur oxide and nitrogen dioxide and water particles to produce dangerously corrosive sulfuric and nitric acids.

Is the use of "between" here correct?

Thanks.
messi10
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Re: between / among : which one to use here

by messi10 Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:07 am

Hi Abhinav,

You need to use among if it involves more than two entities.

However, there is another problem with your sentence. You seem to have used "sulfur oxide and nitrogen dioxide and water particles". I would use a comma between sulfur oxide and nitrogen dioxide to make a list of three items.

Regards

Sunil
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Re: between / among : which one to use here

by Willy Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:48 pm

gs.abhinav Wrote:Source: None. This sentence is made up.

Acid hail and depositions result from the endocryogenic reactions between molecules of sulfur oxide and nitrogen dioxide and water particles to produce dangerously corrosive sulfuric and nitric acids.

Is the use of "between" here correct?

Thanks.


As Sunil said above, I will try to add few more words almost on the same line.

Among ---> for 3 or more things
Between --> For 2 things

Now, if this sentence will be given on the test day I will take "molecules of sulfur oxide and nitrogen dioxide" as one entity.

Also, as we know Subject can't reside inside the prepositional phrase so I think ( and I will treat) this sentence as trying to compare 2 things Molecules of sulfur oxide and nitrogen dioxide AND water particles.

So, I think the use of Between is correct here.

Also, as Sunil said above if we need to compare 3 or more thing we need a COMMA after sulfur oxide not the And.

Any experts advice on my thought process?
gs.abhinav
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Re: between / among : which one to use here

by gs.abhinav Sat Jun 11, 2011 1:49 am

Thanks guys.

Sunil - I think you may be right in your assessment of the statement. i.e. if it were a list and we had more than two items, then we would use 'among' instead of 'between' albeit a comma would be required.

On the other hand willigetmylifeback has made an interesting assessment here which I failed to notice. The original sentence did not have a comma.

This could imply that 'molecules of sulfur oxide and nitrogen dioxide' is basically one item. i.e. reactions BETWEEN the molecules OF sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide AND water particles.

But overall I think its a bad sentence. Hopefully an expert should be able to comment on this.
messi10
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Re: between / among : which one to use here

by messi10 Sat Jun 11, 2011 3:27 am

Hi guys,

That is a very interesting point that willigetmylifeback makes. Never in my wildest of dreams did it occur to me that sulfur oxide and nitrogen dioxide could be a part of a sub-list. Chemistry 101 :)

Abhinav, I wouldn't call it a bad sentence, perhaps not a GMAT type of sentence.

Having said that, we cannot make that judgement unless we see 5 answer choices. I am sure that if this were a GMAT sentence, we would have had 5 answer choices out of which 4 would have been incorrect without any ambiguity or doubt. I mean, no GMAT question can be left up to the interpretation of the test taker.

Either ways Abhinav, I think your question was about the use of between and among and hopefully that has been answered.

Regards

Sunil
gs.abhinav
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Re: between / among : which one to use here

by gs.abhinav Sat Jun 11, 2011 5:30 am

yes sir thank you!
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Re: between / among : which one to use here

by tim Thu Jul 21, 2011 7:02 pm

You are probably best to restrict your study to actual SC examples rather than made up ones, as the sentences you make up may not be sufficiently representative of actual GMAT problems to be worth your time..
Tim Sanders
Manhattan GMAT Instructor

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