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After the second world war, the city of Berlin was divided ________ the USSR, the USA and the UK.

Options

  1. by

  2. with

  3. between

  4. among

My Approach: I am not able to solve this question what will be the best suited one and why?

Though I think "between" is the best suited one. What do I need to know in these types of questions?

Community
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Jack
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    related: “between” vs. “among” (Good clear supported answers) – Mari-Lou A Aug 24 '15 at 11:18
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    Homework type of questions are off-topic unless the asker shows and shares their research. Did you look up the words in a dictionary? Why do you think the answer could be "with"? Why not? We don't know if you were confused between two terms or all four. Please note that I added the articles, if the exam question does not have any articles (the) then it should be thrown away immediately. If it has then next time be more careful when copying text. – Mari-Lou A Aug 24 '15 at 11:32
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    Note that "divided by" would be perfectly legitimate, though with a different meaning. – Hot Licks Aug 24 '15 at 12:52

2 Answers2

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Use "between" to describe a relationship of two things or more than two things if those things are considered pairwise. Otherwise, use "among." You say

between a rock and a hard place

because there are only two alternatives -- rocky and difficult. But you'd also say

I've got lint between my toes

never "among my toes," even if you've got the full complement of ten toes. And

There is agreement between John, Joe, and me

is fine if the John and Joe agree to the same thing that John and I agree to, also being the same thing that Joe and I agree to.

In the OP's example, the USSR, the US, the UK (and actually, France) agreed between them to divide Berlin among them. Every one of the allies agreed with all the others about how to split the city, but zones were parceled out to the group.

deadrat
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  • "Between John, Joe, and I" is not "fine". It should be "...me", of course. – fdb Aug 24 '15 at 10:28
  • @deadrat Sir i am confused in your ans now Ans is between?becoz u are saying they agreed among then to what USSR,US agreed to or USSR,UK – Jack Aug 24 '15 at 10:29
  • I was not objecting to "between". I was objecting to "I". – fdb Aug 24 '15 at 10:39
  • @Jack The agreements for Berlin were likely made by pairs of nations. Each of the British and Soviet zones had borders with all three of the other allies. The French and American zones each had borders with two. Once this was worked out between the the pairs of bordering allies, the London Protocol divided the city among all of them. – deadrat Aug 24 '15 at 10:50
  • @fdb Sorry, I blame the drugs. You're right, of course, and I have edited the answer. Thanks. – deadrat Aug 24 '15 at 10:51
  • Good. As it now stands your answer is correct. – fdb Aug 24 '15 at 10:55
  • Okay @fdb.Well noted point.I edited too But may i know when can i use I in objective case? – Jack Aug 24 '15 at 10:57
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    Jack, in informal writing and in conversation, everybody uses "It's me." This means "It is me," and under strict grammar rules, the subjective complement after "is" should be in the nominative case, i.e., "I" instead of "me." But the "correct" way is not favored. In all other cases, use "me" for the objective case. – deadrat Aug 24 '15 at 11:03
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"Among" is the most grammatically correct. Most people would say "between", informally. Strictly, though, you can only divide something between two entities; any more needs "among".

Martin McCallion
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  • I also thought that we use between when you know the entities are distinct not a group. Use among when the entity is a group. We should not see number of entities like number of countries which gives us BETWEEN is correct answer. the countries mentioned are distinct and finite. there is only one USSR and one USA and one UK. – Jack Aug 24 '15 at 10:00
  • @Jack Yes, between is the right answer here. – tchrist Aug 24 '15 at 12:59
  • @Jack If you think between is correct, then why did you accept this answer? – Snack Exchange Oct 18 '23 at 20:58