RE: the liaison between or the liaison among??

["Pinkham, Jim" <Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com>]

I agree with Kathleen. However, the following reference adds some
insight:

http://www.bartleby.com/64/C003/047.html 

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Kathleen MacDowell
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2008 9:48 AM
To: Peter Neilson
Cc: Hemstreet, Deborah; TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: the liaison between or the liaison among??

I think between is for two groups/items, among is for more than two.
This was supported by a google for among vs between (one of the few
times I've ever thought of doing so :-). E.g.

http://www.englishforums.com/English/AmongVsBetween/dvxcx/post.htm

So the appropriate term would be among, in just about any way the
statement is written, unless you do a comparison of each pair (a and b,
a and c, ...:-)

Regards,

Kathleen

On Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 9:27 AM, Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
wrote:
> Hemstreet, Deborah wrote:
>> Should I write:
>>
>> The X Dept. serves as the liaison between a, b, c, and d.
>> OR
>> The X Dept. serves as the liaison among a, b, c, and d.
>
> First of all, it probably doesn't. More likely it gets in the way, or 
> at least introduces noise. (We know from your previous writings that 
> the place has room for improvement. But then so does everything, even 
> you and me.)
>
> Secondly, when faced with a choice like that, you probably need a 
> different statement. You could turn it inside out, something like
this:
> "A, B, C and D use the X Dept not only to make coffee and to shake the

> toner in the laser printer, but also to resolve conflicts that may 
> arise between any of those departments."
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--
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www.writefortheuser.com
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