Grammar Helper: Farther vs. Further

Posted by Jo | Filed under Writing Helper

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This entry is part 0 of in the series, Writing Helper.

Farther and further are often mixed up in writing and in speaking. Luckily, they’re also very easy to use correctly once you know the difference.

Farther is used when a distance can be measured.

  1. I ran farther yesterday than I have all summer.
  2. Cincinnati is farther from here than Pittsburgh.

In both examples, the distance is measurable. We can measure how far we ran in number one, and we can measure how far away each city is in number two.

Further is used when no measurement of distance is possible.

  1. We need to discuss this further before making a decision.
  2. We’ve gotten further on the project today that I expected.
  3. Janet wants to further her education by attending college.

In the above examples, none relate to measuring distance.

If you find this article useful, read more Grammar Helper articles.

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Comments (2) | July 1, 2009

2 Responses to “Grammar Helper: Farther vs. Further”

  1. Frank J Says:
    July 1st, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    I can remember when I would always make the mistake with There and Their, but learned what possessive was and I later corrected it.

  2. George Says:
    July 26th, 2009 at 3:39 pm

    Grammar is a growing problem at all levels, student, media, political leaders, makes me scream at the poor grammar and bad diction.

    Worse, is people speaking with their mouths clamped, and/or cutting their words short. Very annoying to me.

    Standards are at an all time low; compare with newscasts of fifty years ago, for example.

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