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OttoJ Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Classmate

A dictionary gives the definition of 'classmate':

-a person who is or was in the same class as you at school or college

Does it mean 'former classmate' and 'classmate' are interchangeable?
  

Top answer

Obviously if a person is your classmate now then you cannot call them a "former classmate", so I suppose you are asking about someone who was a classmate in the past -- whether you can use "classmate" and "former classmate" interchangeably in that case. If you call someone a "classmate" with no further context, then it sounds as if you mean current classmate, so you would need to include the word "former". g.

— GPY

  • Obviously if a person is your classmate now then you cannot call them a "former classmate", so I suppose you are asking about someone who was a classmate in the past -- whether you can use "classmate" and "former classmate" interchangeably in that case.
  • If you call someone a "classmate" with no further context, then it sounds as if you mean current classmate, so you would need to include the word "former".
  • g.
  • say "He was my classmate at high school", not "He was my former classmate at high school".
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2 Answers
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Obviously if a person is your classmate now then you cannot call them a "former classmate", so I suppose you are asking about someone who was a classmate in the past -- whether you can use "classmate" and "former classmate" interchangeably in that case. If you call someone a "classmate" with no further context, then it sounds as if you mean current classmate, so you would need to include the word
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I find that I don't hear the word 'classmate' a lot from native speakers.
I usually hear
eg "He was in my class in high school."
eg "We were in the same class in high school."

Clive
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