Hello James,The trick here is that Morocco and Spain do not quite border each other.There is water between them.
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It would be a natural boundary for each of the countries, but it wouldn't be a shared border. Italy and Tunisia are on opposite sides of the same body of water, but I wouldn't say they shared a border. Morocco and Spain are closer together, but I think the same principle applies. The same would apply to Poland and Sweden, in my way of thinking. I would not say that they shared a border.Hello James,
Wouldn't the water be a natural frontier/border, then?
AE would generally prefer France shares borders with/borders on seven countries.Frontier seems like a word that is going out of fashion, at least as a term for the boundary between two countries.
duden's sentences look good to me.My version of the prepositions:
The town is on the border between France and Germany.
France borders with seven countries.
I can't see that on a map. Where does Morocco share a land border (without separation by water) with Spain?Morocco does share a land border with Spain, incidentally (actually, two). It would be quite strange to say "crossing a frontier between Morocco and Spain" were that not the case.
Having read your explanations, I'd like to know if it's wrong to say "push back the borders of science" because, in my view, it implies no technological advancement at all. "Frontier", when used in a metaphorical sense, suggests what lies ahead is unlimited. If you want to mean advancing new ways, breaking new ground, you should use pushing/rolling back the frontiers, rather than pushing/rolling back the boarders.In broad terms,
A border is as far as you can go without something changing. For example, you can have a border to a piece of cloth, a picture, villages, towns, cities, counties, a land mass, etc.
A frontier is as far as you have gone and do not know what is beyond. You can have a frontier in a newly discovered land, space, your knowledge, science, art, etc.
The only place where border and frontier coincide is where two countries meet and here, border is the usual word.
No, it's notIs it just me, or is there a suggestion of menace or hostility in the use of frontier?
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