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Petusek Posted 10 years ago
Vocabulary
first/former/previous/preceding referring to things mentioned in the text
Hello everyone,
Is it possible to use 'preceding' or 'previous' to refer to something mentioned earlier in the same text (but other than the structural parts of the text itself such as 'paragraph', 'chapter', 'sentence' and the like)?
An example:
A and B are large and quite rare. C and D are rather small and abundant. The former pair belongs to the X taxon, while the latter to the Y taxon.
Now, I don't think I can easily replace former with 'preceding' or 'previous' in the example above, can I?
Even is a whole paragraph was devoted to A and B, it would be impossible to refer to them as 'the preceding pair' from another paragraph (one that would follow it), right? Perhaps, something like 'the pair mentioned in the preceding / previous paragraph' would be possible, but not 'the preceding / previous pair' alone, would it? I've got a bit stuck because my native language uses different devices and they seem to have interfered quite a bit with the authors' English, - and, now that I've been staring at their writing for some time, mine too.
I know I can only use former / latter when there are two referents (in a "good style"). Would 'the first pair' / 'the second pair' be wrong? I know first / second can be used with series of more than two referents, but can it also be used for two referents just like former / latter? I haven't been able to find a rule that would disallow this.
Many thanks in advance!
P.
Is it possible to use 'preceding' or 'previous' to refer to something mentioned earlier in the same text (but other than the structural parts of the text itself such as 'paragraph', 'chapter', 'sentence' and the like)?
An example:
A and B are large and quite rare. C and D are rather small and abundant. The former pair belongs to the X taxon, while the latter to the Y taxon.
Now, I don't think I can easily replace former with 'preceding' or 'previous' in the example above, can I?
Even is a whole paragraph was devoted to A and B, it would be impossible to refer to them as 'the preceding pair' from another paragraph (one that would follow it), right? Perhaps, something like 'the pair mentioned in the preceding / previous paragraph' would be possible, but not 'the preceding / previous pair' alone, would it? I've got a bit stuck because my native language uses different devices and they seem to have interfered quite a bit with the authors' English, - and, now that I've been staring at their writing for some time, mine too.
I know I can only use former / latter when there are two referents (in a "good style"). Would 'the first pair' / 'the second pair' be wrong? I know first / second can be used with series of more than two referents, but can it also be used for two referents just like former / latter? I haven't been able to find a rule that would disallow this.
Many thanks in advance!
P.
Top answer
I would probably write it like this: A and B are large and quite rare. C and D are rather small and abundant. The former belong to the X taxon, while the latter belong to the Y taxon.
- I would probably write it like this: A and B are large and quite rare.
- C and D are rather small and abundant.
- The former belong to the X taxon, while the latter belong to the Y taxon.
- If there are two referents that need to be distinguished then you can use "former"/"latter" or "first"/"second" ("preceding" or "previous" could get confusing).
- However, when each referent itself contains multiple items, as here, then "former"/"latter" may be clearer.
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3 Answers
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I would probably write it like this:
A and B are large and quite rare. C and D are rather small and abundant. The former belong to the X taxon, while the latter belong to the Y taxon.
If there are two referents that need to be distinguished then you can use "former"/"latter" or "first"/"second" ("preceding" or "previous" could get confusing). However, when each referent it
A and B are large and quite rare. C and D are rather small and abundant. The former belong to the X taxon, while the latter belong to the Y taxon.
If there are two referents that need to be distinguished then you can use "former"/"latter" or "first"/"second" ("preceding" or "previous" could get confusing). However, when each referent it
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The word pairs you offer aren't really related in the same way. For example, in a former / latter sort of relationship, previous would better be paired with next and preceding would be paired with succeeding or following.
I'd like to add a little nuance to these words and a couple more:
I'd like to add a little nuance to these words and a couple more:
- former / latter -- The fi
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