Farther or further?

[Chevron]

I was thinking about this the other day. I found out when to use which. Quite interesting. I thought I'd share.

Two words often confused are farther and further. Is it farther down the road or further? Do you have to read further in the book or farther? Do you further your education? Yes! Let's take a look at the meanings for these two words.

FARTHER denotes physical advancement in distance.

FURTHER denotes advancement to greater degree, as in time.


The correct answers to the above examples follow:

It is farther down the road. (For distance physically traveled.)

You read further in the book. (To a greater degree than where you are now.)

You further your education. (To a greater degree than what you have now.)

[Miktar]

Sounds about right. Welcome to Standard Grade English. :P

[Chevron]

Hey. I did English higher Grade and got a B.

They didn't teach us the difference between further and farther.

[Miktar]

And that is why some teachers shouldn't be teaching.

[Antharias]

Unfortunately it is something that was never taught to me either. Had to learn it the hard way.

That lovely thing called Google :D.

[brazed]

I can die happy now. My life and education complete.

Thank you.

[Frozenfireside]

I had very good english teachers through out my schooling career but I am A.D.D. so it didn't help much.
I once had the lady from SABC3-the one with the frizzy gray hair.
Nice lady.

[Nandrew]

The standard of language education in South Africa is, in general, quite appalling.

And some English teachers are simply bound by a ****ty syllabus. ^^

[Paradox]

I can die happy now. My life and education complete.

Thank you.

Wow, for a dragon thats quite a short time, you're only like what? A million years old or something. :P

I also seriously never knew this. Damn high school english teachers.

[cYn]

Urgh poor english is a bane on my existence. My manager, constantly uses "then" instead of "than". I see it all over the place. I have to fight the urge to correct him.

[Nandrew]

Urgh poor english is a bane on my existence. My manager, constantly uses "then" instead of "than". I see it all over the place. I have to fight the urge to correct him.

... or fly-kick him in the face.

[dislekcia]

I vote for correcting him. How else is he supposed to learn?

-D

[Nandrew]

I still recommend the aforementioned kick, if only for the reason that it's far more badass.

[ShellShok]

For some reason, I find this to be worthless information.

[DaBaish]

It's good, now I know the correct way to use those words. I did higher grade English matric and got a D. You can only blame me because I homeschooled and taught myself. My mom says I got A.D.D. but I just think that's a pile of sheet. I just think I'm lazy.

[cYn]

For some reason, I find this to be worthless information.

When you seem to have a poor grasp of language people will very quickly conclude that you are thick. I'm not saying it's necessarily true, but that is how it works. Ever notice how people assume deaf or mute people are also mentally deficient simply because they cannot verbally communicate eloquently?

[wisp]

@ Chevron yes i have noticed that you like to correct ppls english;) , they say English people (and by that i mean the English themselves) speak the worst english...do not know if it true just what i heard and judging by my use of the language i would tend to agree:)

[dammit]

It's not the teachers fault that people get basic things like "then" and "than" (or "Further" "father") confused...they do not have time to teach every single word in the english language.

Students who read a good deal of books will find they learn the difference between the words by seeing how they are used in the novels. Those that don't read are less likely to discover how the english language is actually meant to be used...

[Gazza_N]

Students who read a good deal of books will find they learn the difference between the words by seeing how they are used in the novels. Those that don't read are less likely to discover how the english language is actually meant to be used...

"Read"? What is this "read" you speak of? Can you eat it?

I think you've nailed the core issue here. People couldn't be bothered to read when they can just take entertainment in passively. Reading takes far too much effort.

[Oeaks]

Ah, English. The language that everyone speaks but no one understands.

But thats what most people think, why read when you could watch a movie instead? I'm one of the few people in my grade who read books for fun.