As we gather today amid a feast of turkey and family favorites, we’re among family and friends enjoying a day of Thanksgiving.
It’s an interesting word confusion collection amid / amidst vs among / amongst. There are four major points to make about this double pair:
- All four are prepositions, which means each comes BEFORE the noun, pronoun, or object in a sentence.
- The -st on amidst and amongst are, in general, considered more formal, old-fashioned, more literary, i.e., poetical, or as adding a flourish. In general, stick with amid and among.
- The primary difference between them is that:
- amid uses mass nouns, uncountable nouns
- among uses plural countable nouns
- Among is used more often than amid
Uncountable/Mass Noun: Nouns that are seen as a mass and cannot be counted, e.g., the ocean, the milk in a bucket or bottle, progress, curiosity, etc.
Plural, Countable Noun: A plural noun is more than one of someone or something, e.g., drums, bottles, cars, majorettes, employees, etc. A countable noun that is specific enough to be counted, e.g., pens, rolls of toilet paper, tires on a car, etc.
| Amid/Amidst | Among/Amongst |
|---|---|
| uncountable noun | countable noun |
| Rule: Surrounded by or against the background of. | Rule: Implies an intermingling or moving through something. |
| The killer escaped amid the confusion.
There was black pigeon amid a flock of white pigeons. The castle was amid the magnificent countryside. Her doubts about adjusting to a new culture vanished amid the excitement of the wedding. She has written a story of love and hope amid the escalating ethnic tensions. |
The killer walked among us.
Relax, you’re among friends. Talk quietly amongst yourselves. Twelve delegates from Sweden were among the attendees. |
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Legend:
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Style Guide Choices
Once you get past the difference between amid/amidst and among/amongst, then you need to verify which your publisher prefers: without the -st or with. The English are inclined to use both among and amongst, but among is more popular while Americans prefer among.
On the whole, style guides prefer amid and among for formal and non-fiction.
Fiction writers have more leeway to use what they choose. Madden at The Word Counter has a useful post that provides examples of a single story using both among and amongst.
You may also want to explore “Among versus Between“.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Amid / Amidst | Among / Amongst |
|---|---|
Lone Duck Amidst Blue Waters is in the public domain, via PxHere. |
Lesser Snow Geese, Heslington, York, Great Britain, is by DS Pugh and is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Geograph.org.uk. — o There are two black geese among the eleven white geese. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Preposition | Preposition |
| Use with uncountable, mass nouns
Surrounded by
In or throughout the course of
|
Use with plural, countable nouns
Surrounded by In the company of Being a member or members of (a larger set) Occurring in or practiced by (some members of a community)
Indicating a division, choice, or differentiation involving three or more participants Amid In the middle of With [Literary] Amidst, in the midst of Included in, one/some of, in the group/number of Jointly, mutually, together, with one another |
| Examples: | |
| We were amid all the moving boxes in our dream home.
It was set amid magnificent rolling countryside. Talks broke down amid accusations of a hostile takeover bid. He cancelled a foreign trip amid growing concerns of a domestic crisis. Amidst this criticism, at least she still has a few people in her corner. There it was, a tiny bungalow amidst clusters of trees. He lurked amidst the shadows. |
The ball was hidden among the leaves.
The leader was standing amongst his supporters. There were ducks among the geese. There is much unhappiness amongst voters. The pies were enjoyed amongst us all. He lived among artists and writers. The brothers are always quarreling amongst themselves. We were allowed to choose among several options. The property was divided equally among the four survivors. The house is nestled among the trees. There were several hecklers scattered among the crowd. We were joking amongst ourselves. He was a giant among men. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: amidship Adverb amidship |
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| History of the Word: | |
| Before 1000, Middle English amidde from the Old English amiddan, for on middan meaning in (the) middle. | Old English ongemang (from on meaning in + gemang meaning assemblage or mingling) yielding among.
The About 1600, amongst appeared in Early Modern English. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Amid / Amidst vs Among / Amongst
Some of these links may be affiliate links, and I will earn a small percentage, if you should buy it. It does not affect the price you pay.
Alisha. “Amid vs. Among vs Between.” Lesson 116. English Grammar Made Easy. English Class 101.com. n.d. Web. 23 Nov 2022. <https://www.englishclass101.com/lesson/english-grammar-made-easy-121-amid-vs-among-vs-between/>.
Apple Dictionary.com
The Britannica Dictionary: among
Hasa. “Key Difference – Among vs Amid.” DifferenceBetween.com. 3 Dec 2016. Web. 23 Nov 2022. <https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-among-and-vs-amid/>.
Koorey, Dean. “Q&A: Among vs Amid.” Australian Writers’ Centre. 12 July 2016. Web. 23 Nov 2022. <https://www.writerscentre.com.au/blog/qa-among-vs-amid/>.
Madden, Alanna. “Among vs. Amongst?” Grammar Tips. The Word Counter.com. 24 Nov 2019. Web. 23 Nov 2022. <https://thewordcounter.com/among-vs-amongst/>.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Milk ‘n Cookies by Pixabay is in the public domain, via Stockvault.
