John came latter than all the others.

Question

John came latter than all the others.John was the last of all the people.John was the latest one of all the people.Do all of the above sound right? If not, how would you revise them? Thanks.

Yoong Liat · Accepted Answer

AngliholicJohn came latter than all the others.

John was the last of all the people.

John was the latest one of all the people.

Do all of the above sound right? If not, how would you revise them? Thanks.

To me, it should be John came later than all the others.

The other sentences are not correct.

BarbaraPA · Answer

John was the last one to arrive.

Angliholic · Answer

Grammar GeekJohn was the last one to arrive.

Thanks, Yoong and GG.

For the sake of clarification, what's wrong with the first and the third?

How would you revise them without deleting latter and least?

BarbaraPA · Answer

AngliholicJohn came ~~latter~~ later than all the others. - As YL said.

John was the last of all the people. to DO something. The last of all the people to arrive. But it's awkward. The last one sounds more natural.

John was the latest one of all the people. Horribly awkward. It sounds like a great many people were late (arrived after the time they were supposed to) and John was even later. If that's so, then say "Many people were late, and John was latest of all" -- or something like that.

Again, most simply, John was the last one to arrive. or John was last to arrive.

Do all of the above sound right? If not, how would you revise them? Thanks.

Angliholic · Answer

Grammar Geek
Angliholic
John came ~~latter~~ later than all the others. - As YL said.

John was the last of all the people. to DO something. The last of all the people to arrive. But it's awkward. The last one sounds more natural.

John was the latest one of all the people. Horribly awkward. It sounds like a great many people were late (arrived after the time they were supposed to) and John was even later. If that's so, then say "Many people were late, and John was latest of all" -- or something like that.

Again, most simply, John was the last one to arrive. or John was last to arrive.

Do all of the above sound right? If not, how would you revise them? Thanks.

Thanks, GG.

But how do you use "latter" to make a similar sentence? What about the following?

John was the latter of all the people who came.

Yoong Liat · Answer

Hi Angliholic

"Latter" doesn't mean "later". It means "the second of two people, things or groups just mentioned".

The college offered courses in Russian and Chinese, and I decided to enrol for the latter. (This means that I decided to enrol for Chinese. If I changed my mind and decided to enrol for Russian, then I would have to say, "I decided to enrol for the former.")

Angliholic · Answer

Thanks, Yoong.

I knew what you mentioned, and I just tried out the different usage of latter. Here is another shot:

John was the latter of the two persons who came.

Yoong Liat · Answer

AngliholicThanks, Yoong.

I knew what you mentioned, and I just tried out the different usage of latter. Here is another shot:

John was the latter of the two persons who came.

The sentence is not correct. You must mention two persons.

John and Jack came. The latter arrived first.

I hope my explanation is clear.

Yoong Liat · Answer

Yoong Liat
Angliholic
Thanks, Yoong.

I knew what you mentioned, and I just tried out the different usage of latter. Here is another shot:

John was the latter of the two persons who came.

The sentence is not correct. You must state the names of the two people first.

Jack and John came. The latter arrived later.

I hope my explanation is clear.

Khoff · Answer

Angliholic -- please read Yoong Liat's excellent explanation again. Can your sentence,

"John was the latter of the two persons who came" be rephrased as

"John was the second of the two people just mentioned of the two persons who came" ? No, it cannot. This sentence is nonsense. You are still using "latter"as though it meant "later." We don't use it like that. First you have to mention two people, and then use "the latter" to refer to the second person mentioned.

The only correct way to get "latter" into a sentence similar to what you want would be something like this:

"Bob and John were both late. The latter was later." This means "The second of the two people just mentioned (that is, John) was later." However, we would be unlikely to say "the latter was later" because it sounds like a tongue-twister, and it would be simpler to just say "John was later."

John came latter than all the others.

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