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I am not a native speaker (my mother tongue is German).

In the context of a technical paper (computer science), is there a difference between starting a sentence with Further, ... and starting it with Furthermore, ... ? It is used in the context of continuing a sentence.

I wasn't sure, so I asked an American English native speaker. He said to change the "Further" to "Furthermore".

Is it correct that the two phrases are not interchangable? My guess is, it would be safe to change all "Further, ..." to "Furthermore, ...", but the opposite is not true?

Also, is there a difference between British English and American English between "Further" and "Furthermore"?

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Furthermore is used to introduce a new argument.

Further states that something goes beyond what was already said.

These two are clearly related, but not the same, and not interchangeable.

Generally if you used further at the start of a statement where you should have used furthermore the reader will be left wondering "further to what?".

My guess is, it would be safe to change all "Further, ..." to "Furthermore, ...", but the opposite is not true?

No, they are not interchangeable in either direction.

Further to the above considerations...

*Furthermore to the above considerations...

Furthermore, our partners might object...

*Further, our partners might object...

Further Affiant Sayeth Not (a rather old-fashioned expression still found on affidavits and other legal documents, meaning the affiant has nothing else to add).

*Furthermore Affiant Sayeth Not.

In each of these, those marked with an asterisk are incorrect.

It's precisely because it's not safe to change all "Further,..." to "Furthermore,..." that you were advised to do so - in the case in question your colleague thought you meant furthermore when you used the completely different further.

That said, it's quite possible that all the other places where you have used further at the start of a sentence not only can, but should be changed to furthermore, because that's what you actually meant. Indeed, quite likely if you are asking this question.

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    Just because I am not a native speaker and curious: is it a coincidence that none of your wrong examples start exactly with "Furthermore, ..." (i.e., a sentence starting with "Futhermore" followed by a COMMA)?
    – mrsteve
    Commented Dec 17, 2013 at 12:16
  • It's not a coincidence, in that it would be more common for the sort of clause that starts with further to not have a comma there, and my incorrect examples just substituted the words. You could have a sentence that began with "further,..." with a comma, but it would still be a different meaning to "furthermore,..."
    – Jon Hanna
    Commented Dec 17, 2013 at 12:36
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    I disagree. According to Webster's, "further" and "furthermore" have a shared meaning: "in addition to what has been said." I don't find a definition for "furthermore" that restricts it to introducing a new thought. Given that, I believe all of the examples provided above could begin with the word "Furthermore" followed by a comma.
    – user78514
    Commented Jun 6, 2014 at 15:32
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    @user78514 is correct. A new argument clearly goes beyond what was already said, so according to the definitions in the answer, Further could be used whenever Furthermore can. Furthermore, here is another reason, in addition to the one I just gave :)
    – Kuhndog
    Commented Jan 31, 2018 at 16:58
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“Further” is usually employed as an adjective that modifies a noun. For the most part, it is NOT used at the beginning of a sentence (e.g., “Without further delay.”). It is synonymous with “additional.” By contrast, “furthermore” is an adverb that doesn’t modify anything. It is used to support or expand a prior statement. It IS generally used at the beginning of a sentence (e.g., “Furthermore, they allow pets.”). It is synonymous with “in addition.”

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"Further" and "furthermore" are not interchangeable if you solely look at the dictionary. The definition for "furthermore" clearly concentrates on this usage, which is in contrast to the definition for "further". Merriam-Webster states this definition of "further" as definition 2 and compares it with "moreover". I criticize the dictionaries' lack of examples on words such as this. For example, if you click the link for "moreover", you will be shown that "besides" is a synonym. As a result, non-native English writers get in the habit of writing "Besides, ..." by itself. "Further" evolved to mean furthermore by people writing: "Further to this argument..." and now there is a situation where people think "Further, ...." and "Besides, ..." sound natural and acceptable to everyone. But just by looking at the differences of opinion here, they clearly don't. And if they did, there would be no need to have the word "furthermore".

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  • I've been correcting "further,..." to "furthermore,..." for years, but I've seen it a lot lately by even native speakers. Maybe it is time to stop fighting it.
    – WaterMolecule
    Commented May 18, 2020 at 21:34
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I always thought "further" could not be used to start a sentence and besides, it seems lazy. But Garner's Modern English usage says although "furthermore" is proper, "further" or "moreover" is better. And Merriam-Webster gives both "further" and "furthermore" as synonyms for "moreover". "Further" also has additional meanings referring to (often metaphorical) distance, according to Garner. So from this I would say that "further" can always be used in place of "furthermore" but not vice versa.

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Further - to say if you want some thing more. eg: clarification has been provided. Further you need any please contact in the below address.

Furthermore- same meaning of Besides.

eg: Please complete the open item today itself, further more kindly update in the tracker.

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