Younger/Young

Question

Dear all,I would like to know whether the following sentences are correct. If yes, I'd like to know the difference in their meaning.1) Mary was very pretty when she was younger.2) Mary was very pretty when she was young.Thank you.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

cat navy 425I would like to know whether the following sentences are correct.

Yes.

cat navy 425If yes, I'd like to know the difference in their meaning.

The only difference is that dictated by the words used.

cat navy 4251) Mary was very pretty when she was younger.

We don't know how old she is now, but she was prettier in the past, years ago. If she is a child now, she was a child, not a baby, when she was prettier. If she is an adult, she was an adult when she was prettier.

cat navy 4252) Mary was very pretty when she was young.

This is a bit of a left-handed compliment. She is no longer what you could call young, or pretty, for that matter, and she was pretty before she lost the bloom of youth, 40, tops, not that you can't be pretty after that, but you are no longer young and pretty. It is possible that we are to believe she was pretty as far back as her midddle teens, but not so young you would have to call her a child, which is what you would say in that case.

Younger/Young

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