Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: further/farther

"Oh dear! Now in front of you, you can see a very big rock lying in the 
middle of the road and that means we cannot go on any further."
Isn't "farther" preferable?
Kiuhnm

 Isn't "farther" preferable?
No, not in my opinion. The reason I would say 'further' is because the use 
is figurative. The speaker is talking about 'going on' in the sense of 
continuing, not 'going' in the sense of crossing a distance.
"...that means we cannot go any farther."
"...that means we cannot go on any further."
It seems awkward to me to say "that means we cannot go on any farther'. Let 
me add that there is some controversy over the use of further/farther and 
that you may easily find others who would present a different perspective. 

 wrote in message
news:13h7qjg...@corp.supernews.com...

I guess that big rock is a figurative rock, then?
Joe from Massachusetts

 that you may easily find others who would present a different perspective. 
Yes, I guessed so. Because/since, to boldly go, further/farther, 
which/that, ...
Kiuhnm

 wrote in message
news:X1SQi.1030$E92...@newsfe23.lga...

«201 farther and further
1 distance
We use both farther and further to talk about distance. They mean the same.
Edinburgh is fartherlfurther away than York.
2 'additional'
Further (but not farther) can mean 'additional', 'extra', 'more advanced'.
For further information, see page 6. College of Further Education»
(Swan, "Practical English")
« — USAGE Is there any difference between further and farther? In the sense
‘at, to, or by a greater distance’ they may be used interchangeably: she
moved further down the train and she moved farther down the train are both
correct. However further is a much commoner word, and in addition it is used
in certain abstract contexts, for example in references to time, in which it
would be unusual to substitute farther, e.g. have you anything further to
say?; without further delay.»
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/further?view=uk
Joe from Massachusetts

An etymological note (anything to avoid marking more stuff....)
The Italian "ulteriore" comes from the irregular Latin comparative
form which meant "farther (or further)" . Italian has lost its literal
meaning and introduced the regular "più lontano", using "ulteriore"
only in its figurative sense.
Ok, ok... I'll go back to marking
Claudia

An etymological note (anything to avoid more marking):
the Italian word "ulteriore" comes from the Latin irregular
comparative form meaning "farther" ("further"); in Italian we have
lost its literal meaning and introduced the regular "più lontano",
while retaining only its figurative sense.
Ciao
Claudia

(third time I try to post this - it tells me "post riuscito" and then
it doesn't appear)
An etymological note (anything to avoid marking more tests)
The Italian "ulteriore" comes form the Latin irregular comparative
form meaning "farther" ("further"); we have lost its literal sense and
introduced the regular "più lontano" while keeping its figurative
sense.
Ciao
Claudia

Isn't "farther" preferable?
And "farter"? ;-)
-- 
Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor.
Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. 
You don't need anything else.
(El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz AKA Malcolm X)

 it doesn't appear) [cut]
Uhm... in questo caso si puo' davvero utilizzare il simple present dopo 
"third time"?
Ciao,
Enrico il Pentolaio.
-- 
She's not worth it. Or is she? 


 Good question; probably not, but I wasn't really thinking straight as
it was my third time trying to post (and rewrite) a post which did
appear three times in the end, god knows why!
:-)
C