Former/latter

Question

Hi everybody,Could you please tell me which sentences are correct?#1 Gorden and Mike are brothers. Gorden is elder to former.#2 Gorden and Mike are brothers. The former is elder to the latter.#3 Gorden and Mike are brothers. The former is elder to Mike.Thank you

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Could you please tell me which sentences are correct?

#1 Gorden and Mike are brothers. Gorden is elder to former.

#2 Gorden and Mike are brothers. The former is elder to the latter.

#3 Gorden and Mike are brothers. The former is elder to Mike.

The word 'elder' is not used a lot, particularly in everyday Engidh

Here are natural sentences.

#1 Gorden and Mike are brothers. Gorden is the older one..

#2 Gorden and Mike are brothers. The former is the older one.

#3 Gorden and Mike are brothers. The former is older than Mike.

But also note this.

'The former' is used more when the thing or person referred to requires a lot of words to repeat.
eg Instead of repeating 'the man iin the brown suit who is smoking a cigarette', say 'the former'.
Same thing with 'the latter'.

Clive

Mark K · Answer

Ehi. Actually none of them is correct. Remember that when you make a comparison you must use than after the first term:

#1 Gorden and Mike are brothers. Gorden is elder to than the former.

#2 Gorden and Mike are brothers. The former is elder to than the latter.

#3 Gorden and Mike are brothers. The former is elder to than Mike.

Remember this, regards

Goat · Answer

Thanks very much for your time and help Clive

Goat · Answer

Thanks very much for your time and help Mark K

Former/latter

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