许多学生经常混淆 elder/eldest 和 older/oldest的用法。
两组词汇含义完全相同,都表示年龄更大或最大,但在用法上却存在如下区别:
- elder/eldest 只能放在名词前面,不能放在be动词后面。
- older/oldest既可以放在名词前面,也可以放在be动词后面。
elder/eldest
elder/eldest放在名词前面,用于表示家庭关系里年长的。
例如:
- She is my elder sister. 她是我的姐姐。
- She is now the eldest member of the family. 她是家里最年长的人。
- 错误的用法:
She is my sister. She iselder.
当然,elder/eldest 还可以用作名词。例如:
- He is the eldest of four brothers. 他是我们四个兄弟中最年长的。
older/oldest = elder/eldest
older/oldest也可以放在名词前,表示家庭关系里年长的。也可以用作名词。此时,older/oldest与elder/eldest 用法完全相同。
例如:
- My older(=elder) sister is coming to stay with us at the weekend.
- Matt is the oldest (=eldest) of our children and Simon is the youngest.
older/oldest ≠ elder/eldest
older/oldest 还可表示一般意义上事物的年龄,此时只能使用older/oldest,而不能使用elder/eldest
例如:
- It is by far the oldest building in the whole region. 这是这个地区最古老的建筑。
- 错误的用法:
The town hall is by farthe eldest building…
此外,older/oldest 还可以放在be动词后面,而elder/eldest则不可以。
例如:
- I think her grandfather must be older than her grandmother. 他爷爷比奶妈年纪大
- 错误的用法:
I think her grandfather mustbe elderthan …