Asking about the position in a list

Question

I know that when we want to ask somebody if he is the second, third,... child in his family, we can simply ask him this question:
"How many children come before you?"

Now suppose that there is a list of 30 people, and my friend's got the 21st position in the list. How can I ask his place in the list? Is it true/colloquial to ask: "how many people come before you in the list?" or I should ask something different like "where is your place in the list?"

Thanks in advance

Waïti · Accepted Answer

Maybe an alternate version could be : "how do you rank in the list" or better yet "where do you rank in the list" ? I think that it is something I already heard. I believe it would be acceptable in informal spoken english at least...
Hope this helps.

Savvysavz · Answer

Hi Maysam,

I think it also depends on what kind of list/ranking you are talking about.

It's ok to say what rank are you holding from an academic point of view but that would not apply well, if, say the list holds to familial ties.

Savvy

Clive · Answer

Hi,

I think we'd usually say something simple, like 'Where are you on the list?'

Best wishes, Clive

Asking about the position in a list

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions