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I am not really sure about the use of among, so I have got these expressions which I am not sure are correct:

  1. They were talking among themselves and were completely ignoring me.
  2. These are Giants fan celebrating among themselves their World Series triumph.

I know I am stretching it too much in the second example to include among.

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    This is pretty much general reference. Yes, those are correct and no you're not really stretching in example 2.
    – Marcus_33
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 13:30

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Among is appropriate in both of those situations. If two things are involved, use between. "Two students were talking between themselves..." However, if there are three or more people involved, "A large group of students were talking among themselves and ignoring the speaker...." is correct.

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  • By the way, you can also use amongst, but it is a bit dated.
    – Melody Cornelius
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 16:20
  • And "...celebrating among themselves" is correct as well, as long as there are three or more of them. They are sharing in the celebration; therefore, they are celebrating among themselves.
    – Melody Cornelius
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 16:22
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    @Melody Do you really find "amongst" to be dated?
    – JAM
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 16:58
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    @JAM Many native speakers use amongst naturally and completely unselfconsciously. It is just some American style guides that tell you it is out of fashion. There is an answer around here somewhere that spells out some statistics about this, but the bottom line is that among is more common everywhere, but amongst persists and should not be considered wrong. If a native speaker uses it naturally, then that is perfectly valid.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 17:39

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