7

First, is my question right? Does amongst fit here?

Please differentiate the above phrases.

Improve this question
5
  • 5
    I would go with "difference between". There is not a single occurrence of "difference amongst" in the British National Corpus, and while Google does return 25,700 hits for "difference amongst", it returns 74,100,000 hits for "difference between".
    – RegDwigнt
    Oct 21, 2010 at 8:32
  • Are 'difference' and 'amongst' based on the count?? This questions generates more child questions. :-(
    – San
    Oct 22, 2010 at 13:35
  • Are we are ELU? Sure? There's also the English Language Learners
    – Kris
    Sep 2, 2014 at 4:41
  • @RegDwigнt Both "difference amongst" as well as "difference between" are used, in different situations. Not to compare on Google Search/ nGrams out of context.
    – Kris
    Sep 2, 2014 at 4:42
  • ... But 'the difference between a, b and c' is standard.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Sep 2, 2014 at 7:06

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
20

I have used cocaine.

I took cocaine at least once sometime in the past.

I was using cocaine.

In the past, I was a habitual user of cocaine. EDIT: As the comment says, this can also mean a process in the past, e.g. "I was using cocaine when the accident happened" can mean "I was not looking at the road since I was snorting cocaine."

I have been using cocaine.

Starting some time in the past, and including today, I use cocaine.

I had used cocaine.

With my reference point at a time in the past, by that point, cocaine was already taken by me. Better example:

By the time I met my girlfriend, I had used cocaine.

So when meeting the girlfriend, you took cocaine by then already.

BONUS: You missed one:

I had been using cocaine.

Meaning, with a reference point in the past, starting a time before then up to the reference point, I was habitually using cocaine up to and including that point.

Why not put in some other wonky tenses?

I will have used cocaine.

I will have been using cocaine.

Here is a link conjugating it in all its tenseful glory.

Improve this answer
8
  • 4
    "I was using cocaine" may not indicate habitual use, but instead may refer to one's state at a particular time: "When I got into the accident, I was using cocaine."
    – J.T. Grimes
    Oct 21, 2010 at 5:44
  • nice coke reference :)
    – roman m
    Oct 21, 2010 at 21:40
  • 1
    @Claudiu Is your lastname EyeOpener?? :-D Thanks for the great examples. I think the link would satisfy many of the questions. Thanks a lot.
    – San
    Oct 22, 2010 at 13:38
  • 1
    "I used to use cocaine" -- a previous habit which has ceased.
    – Michael H.
    Oct 25, 2010 at 14:57
  • 1
    @khedron: that's not a different tense, though, that's using a different construction ("I used to ...") .
    – Claudiu
    Oct 25, 2010 at 16:33

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.