Can I replace between with amid here?
The engineers need to design the relationship between these function blocks.
Turning into
The engineers need to design the relationship amid these function blocks.
Asked
Active
Viewed 948 times
0
ravin
- 19
-
You could use "among". – Hot Licks Apr 09 '15 at 22:12
-
@HotLicks, I am not a native english speaker but it seems among has a similar problem that amid has. – ravin Apr 09 '15 at 23:19
-
No, because "among" is referring to a relationship, vs simply position. – Hot Licks Apr 09 '15 at 23:42
-
@HotLicks No, only between can be used here. – tchrist Apr 11 '15 at 00:42
-
possible duplicate of “between” vs. “among” – tchrist Apr 11 '15 at 00:43
-
@tchrist no. it is about using it in this mathematical case. I have seen that post and based on that I am asking this question. – ravin Apr 11 '15 at 11:37
1 Answers
-1
No.
Between is used in sense (3) from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/between:
a : from one to another of
b : serving to connect or unite in a relationship (as difference, likeness, or proportion)
whereas amid has only its primary meaning (from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amid):
: in or into the middle of (something)
The use of amid in your sentence therefore give us the sense that the engineers must be physically standing in the middle of a group of function blocks while they design the relationship (which does not necessarily relate to the function blocks at all), which is clearly not a reasonable meaning.
Hellion
- 59,365