3 ms·

What does that mean? What is the difference between "borders" and "border"?

• SAI_Peregrinus 6y ago
  Sufficiently far out from land (IIRC 10 miles) the ocean becomes "international waters", and no country legally controls it. There's a border between the territorial waters of a given country and these international waters along the coast. There's also noun/verb confusion. A state has borders (noun). A state can border another (verb). State A has a border, state B has a border, and A borders B. California has a border with International Waters. Hawaii is directly surrounded by International Waters. California does not border Hawaii, though both have borders and border International Waters.
• coldtea 6y ago
  No difference, that grammatical change from plurar to singural wasn't part of my point. You can also read it as: "A country's segments (e.g. states) could have borders between them, but that doesn't mean that each has borders with each other." Another commenter explained what I meant well, but here's my explanation: The US might have a border with Canada, but doesn't mean that Colorado also has a border with Canada. Similarly, Alaska and Hawaii might be part of the US, and thus their borders are the US borders too, but that doesn't mean e.g. Hawaii borders Nebraska. Now borders might be on land or on water, but they're still borders. As long as another entity is not in between (e.g. Canada, as is the case between e.g. US and Alaska, or the Ocean between the US and Hawaii).