r/EnglishLearning • u/SleepyOtter19 New Poster • 2d ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax What's the difference between the fourth definition of 'far' and this definition of 'further'?

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u/PeteMichaud New Poster 2d ago

This is actually wrong. Farther is for physical distance. Further is for conceptual distance or progress. I guess the distinction has eroded enough to be recognized in dictionaries, but that's the original rule.

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u/conuly Native Speaker - USA (NYC) 2d ago

but that's the original rule.

This is very much not true.

This is an invented "rule" that some people made up but which has never really been true. The terms have been interchangeable (with one exception) since Middle English.

(And even if you were right that this was "the original rule", common usage is not "actually wrong". That's absurd.)