Which of the following two is correct?:
- The man is sitting in between the two women
or:
- The man is sitting in-between the two women.
What is the general rule?
Related but different questions: What is the difference between "in-between" and "between"? and Is single-word "inbetween" becoming more acceptable? How far can it go?
According to Merriam-Webster, 'in-between' is used as a noun or adjective whereas 'in between' is an adverb or preposition.
Hope this helps.
I think the correct form would be actually:
The man is sitting between the two women.
So, neither. You are using between as a preposition here, so if you refer to the questions you gave as examples in your question, you should use just between.
"Between the two women" denotes a space. If there is a space then you can be in that space; you can be in "between the two women". "In-between" also denotes that space whereas "between" doesn't.
In-between can work by implied reference but "between" cannot. Consider "Two women are sitting at either end of a bench for four". You wouldn't say "The man is sitting between" but you could say that he's "sitting between them" or you could say "The man is sitting in-between".
I feel that between is the whole example including the outer layer due to show its starting and ending point
And +++++ in/- between +++++ is what is excluding the starting and ending point. Not know what the difference in the hyphen resembles.
I feel if that if its between something how would you describe the start and end of the example except for using it as a alternative metephor. It is a connotes. The tricky meangs of words in the english language.
