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Meaning "correspondence" as "letters" or "exchange of letters" (not similarity), which sentence would be more appropriate (may be there are only subtle differences in style):

  1. The correspondence of A with B.
  2. The correspondence between A and B.

I've seen also:

  1. The A-B correspondence.

Are they interchangeable? I mean when both persons write, not the case "from A to B" or vice versa.

Also, is it possible in this context replace "correspondence" with "letters" (in every sentence)?

1 Answer 1

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The word correspondence is defined as the exchange of letters. Furthermore, if you look up the word exchange it is defined as the giving of something for something else (in this case letters).

By this definition there is an exchange of letters in both sentences regardless of whether you use with or between

In other words, the use of the word correspondence, by definition, already tells us that letters go from A to B and visa versa.

In the sentences you have provided you cant substitute letters for correspondence because correspondence refers to the exchange and not to what is being exchanged.

if you want to show that a letter is being sent in one direction (A to B) then you can use the preposition to

e.g. A wrote **to B.**

if you want to show that A and B both exchange letters then you can say:

A and B wrote to each other.

In your original sentence the use of between probably gives a stronger idea of reciprocity , but that's just my opinion.

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  • Ok, I can't substitute correspondence with letters meaning exchange, the process of exchanging, but, in the wide sense, can I say "the letters of A with B" or "the letters between A and B"?
    – RusLand
    Commented Jan 9, 2018 at 23:35
  • Not in the examples you have given. However, you could say The letters between A and B were very rude (describing the letters). The letters of A with B doesn't really make sense or sound natural to me.
    – user242899
    Commented Jan 10, 2018 at 0:41
  • And what about The A-B correspondence? For example, I saw The Einstein-Freud Correspondence, meaning possibly "exchange", but I'd understand "letters" too. And what about letters? I think it's possible to say The A-B letters, or A and B's letters, but which is more formal or more colloquial?
    – RusLand
    Commented Jan 10, 2018 at 1:16
  • Ok, I see what you mean. by the A-B correspondence. I think that if for example the Einstein-Freud correspondence is a collection of letters in a museum then YES you can say letters.in place of correspondence e.g. We went to the Science museum and saw the Einstein-Freud letters. (or correspondence) The letters here would be examples of the correspondence that went on between these two scientists.
    – user242899
    Commented Jan 10, 2018 at 3:02
  • Why, in your inicial answer, you defined "correspondence" as "the exchange of letter" only? I understand it as the process of writing and sending letters, not the letters themselves. But I see in this definition by Oxford Lerner's Dictionary that "correspondence" is defined also as "the letters a person sends and receives": oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/…
    – RusLand
    Commented Jan 10, 2018 at 10:26

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