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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Elder vs. eldest

Imagine the protagonist is the eldest son and has one brother and two sisters. When speaking of the older of the his sisters should he say, "When my elder sister was sixteen" or ""When my eldest sister was sixteen"? "When my elder sister was sixteen" makes me think this sister is older than the protagonist. Thank you for your replies and comments.
  

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6 Answers
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How old are these 4 people right now?
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Most speakers of English from the UK, North America, Australia and New Zealand are not too concerned about the order of their siblings.

I don't think you'll find any general agreement in the responses to your question.
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It there are only two boys, he's not the "eldest" son, he's the "elder" son.

If there are only two girls, there is no "eldest" either. If you said "my elder sister" I would 100% agree thait's he is older than he is.

Just say "the older of my two sisters" (or "Mary").
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If I have four siblings (a brother and three sisters), What would I say?

Would it be correct if I said "I have one brother and three sisters, the eldest of my sisters, whose name is Jane, is in high school. Of my other sisters, Jill is elder and the youngest is Mary."?

Thank you teachers, and please tell me if there is any other better way to form or convey the idea in the
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"I have one brother and three sisters. Of my sisters, the oldest, Jane, is in high school. The middle sister is Jill and the youngest is Mary."
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AlpheccaStars"I have one brother and three sisters. Of my sisters, the oldest, Jane, is in high school. The middle sister is Jill and the youngest is Mary."
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