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Part xiii: The Difference Between Further & Farther

This part has been requested by AutumnElf555.

Farther

Use "farther" for physical distance.

Further

Use "further" for metaphorical, or figurative, distance.

Tips to Remember

It's easy to remember because "farther" has the word "far" in it, and "far" obviously relates to physical distance.

These examples will help:

Imagine Sam and Amanda are flying to a galaxy far, far away, but Sam gets bored and starts mercilessly bugging Amanda. "How much farther?'" he keeps asking in despair.

Did you hear that? Sam used "farther" because he was asking about physical distance.

If Amanda gets frustrated with Sam, which she surely will, she could respond, "If you complain further, I'm going to shoot you out the airlock."

Amanda used "further" because she isn't talking about physical distance. She's talking about a figurative distance: the extent of Sam's complaining.

Sometimes the tip doesn't work because it's hard to decide whether you're talking about physical distance. For example:

Laney asked about the sentence, "I'm further along in my book than you are in yours."

You could think of it as a physical distance through the pages and use "farther," or as a figurative distance through the story and use "further."

If you can't decide which one to use, you're safer using "further" because "farther" has some restrictions, and if you tend to get confused, try using "furthermore" instead of "further."

Furthermore

It is important to remember that "farther" has a tie to physical distance and can't be used to mean "moreover" or "in addition."

We're nearly out of fuel. Further, there's an asteroid belt ahead.

A trick I use is to write "furthermore" when I mean "in addition."

Furthermore, I hope you locked the door when we left.

Before We Go Any Further or is it Before We Go Any Farther?

And what if you stop someone in the middle of a sentence to interject something? Do you say "before we go any further," or "before we go any farther"?

The good news is that in ambiguous cases it doesn't matter which word you choose.

Although careful writers will try to stick with the distinction between "further" and "farther," the Oxford English Dictionary, Fowler's Modern English Usage, and a number of other sources say that, in most cases, it's fine to use "further" and "farther" interchangeably, especially when the distinction isn't clear. People have been using them interchangeably for hundreds of years, and a few experts don't even follow the distinction.

It's also different in British English. For example, Garner's Modern English Usage notes that the British use both "further" and "farther" for physical distance.

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