among, between

Standard usage requires that among be employed to show the relationship of more than two objects or persons and that between be employed to refer to only two objects or, occasionally, to more than two when each object is considered in relation to others. This distinction probably traces from the fact that the tween in between comes from the Old English word for two. The majority of careful speakers observe this distinction, but remember that between can correctly refer to more than two objects in certain instances. We speak of "a trade agreement between Great Britain, France, and the United States" because each country has an individual obligation to each of the others. And we do not say that a triangle is the space among three points or that the water-level route runs among New York, Albany, Cleveland, and Chicago. Keep these examples in mind: "We distributed the toys among Heather, Greg, and Gray." "We distributed the toys between Jill and Gray." "Understanding between nations is desirable."