Ronnie
Adam
Rebecca
Jon
Alex
James
Emma
Valen
“Oldest” and “Eldest” – What’s the difference?
Oldest or eldest? Learn how to use these two easily confused words. Stop waiting, and click the play button to watch this vocabulary lesson now!
Quiz
Test your understanding of this English lesson
Test your understanding of the English lesson by answering these questions. You will get the answers and your score at the end of the quiz.
Comments
Reply
Leave a Comment
Levels
Lesson Topics
I am the __________ sibling in my family.
why in this statement we can use both oldest and eldest.
i think it should be oldest only, am i right?
I think we can use both words because It is a personal pronom, It´s means that refers only a people: I.
I have the same problem. Help us, please :)
Here we are talking about the person. So we can use either Oldest or Eldest
Hi, Alex. I agree with emanahmed because of what you explained about absolutes. Isn’t this case an example of absolutes (superlative)? Thanx a bunch!!
No, my friend we can use both of them. because we can use oldest and eldest when we talk about people. is it clear?
No, my friend we can use both of them. Because, we can use oldest and eldest when we talk about people. is it clear?
Dear emanahmed,
Ur not right!U know, we can use oldest n eldest 2 talk about people n as it’s clear in the quiz we can also use both in superlatives n absolutes.Otherwise they the samne meaning n there’s no matter 2 use both in the blank.
Hope I could help!
Fatima, If so, take this case: Ryan Giggs is the ___ player on Manchester United. The correct answer is: older (not both). I still do not understand.
ups..Sorry I meant to write oldest (not older).
….but my answer is still on BOTH.,
bcoz “the player” is person n both(oldest n eldest)r usable in my book!
U can search more.
Goodluck!
Yes. I think You’re right,completely right
You can use oldest or eldest but the sentence should be
1)I’m the oldest/eldest among my siblings.
2)I’m the oldest/eldest of 4 siblings.
(no need to add the word family because a sibling is already part of a family
It is good iunderstood clearly,thanks a lot.
Can we use this sentence, ‘ she the eldest women live in the this oldest town’. Tq
No we can’t use the sentance. It should be “She is the oldestt women lives in oldest city”
Dear Jeevan,
Ur sentence is not totally correct;
It’s:She’s the oldest/eldest womAn (not womEn) lives in the oldest town.
As it’s in the quiz,we can use both the oldest n the eldest in absolutes n superlatives sentences.
Goodluck!
Thanks for this instruction ,I just didn´t understand the use of (both)
Please help me
thanks alex
thanks Alex
mr Alex u r a great teacher.
God bless u
thank u so much!!!!!
I haven’t heard eldest, now I know thanks a bunch Alex.
HI Alex! u ar a great teacher :) I was your real student in ALI last summer so very very nice to see you there!:)
thanks Alex………. I had not heard the word sibling. i want to ask you: there is more comun to say sibling instead of brother and sister ?
thanks u are very nice
Alex. I do not agree with the rsult of first, third and four question because the answer is both for all of them and the result say that oldest is correct???????/
it was a new knowledge for me that oldest and eldest can be used for brothers/sisters. I thought that we can use only eldest among brothers/sisters
I always knew that we use ELDEST for memeber of our family.
Thanks for changing the flag Engvid :)
Thanks so much Alex
Hi Alex, great lesson.
could you explain us, why is there a difference between following sentences:
“Ryan Giggs is the oldest player on Manchester United.”
and
“I am the oldest/eldest sibling in my family.”
thanks
She’s the _________ of four siblings.
I am the __________ sibling in my family.
This is confused me ..Why should I use both oldest and eldest if there is “The”
Thanks Alex :)
Thanks for such a great lesson. I got full mark :))
Thanks teacher.
Good! It is first time that I got perfect for quiz.
Dear Alex
you should not use “Green Pilot” on the whiteboard, because we cannot see properly,try blue and black please, thanks for the classes
Dear Alex thanks alot for this.
Dear Alex again I would ask you the same that how we can use both, oldest and eldest,in last statement? As there is THE…
thank u so much teacher alex >>>
thank you somuch that great i revised that withe my eldest brother he said that good
Thank You, Alex!, you are a good teacher!
thank you Alex I always listen to your lessons but I want you to do more in vocabulary .
thanks …….it’s very useful 4 me…..
Thanks
thank you so much teachers
thank you so much engvid.com
hello friands if anyone want to talk in english to practice send me massege gibrahim200@hotmail.com
thank you Alex
Thanks a lot !!!
Dear Vallen Teacher,
I wish to study from you I am an employee of a transporting company I have just studied intermediate, but failed In my young period I did not give any interest to study on now I am struggling for that while my I have to send emails & letters always. Could you
help me, then mail me
Thank you!
thank you teacher
When i have been a student, we used to use these two words in a different way. When we spoke about the age we used the the word “old”, but when we spoke about family members, and we wanted to emphasize the fact that somebody was born previously, we used the second variant such as “elder, the eldest. For example: This woman is older than that one. or This is my elder brother. I think that this distinction is more appropriate. Even Raymond Murphy gives the same explanation. Maybe i am wrong, but i am also a teacher of English and i have read a lot of different grammar books and i have never heard that “older and elder” are equal in meanings. Our teacher was from the USA and when instead of “elder” we used “older” with people it was considered as a huge mistake!!!
Good lesson with great difficulties because there’s many and different explanations about this topic
i do not understand the oldest person to ever live. why i cannot use the eldest.and about player why can not use the eldest.these are about person. thanks.
thanks for your good lesson that was understandible
thank you Alex
Dear Alex, question 3&4 is recommended about people, so I choose answer “both” but why it’s false? I can’t understand? Please help me?
Oh, i understand now, thanks you for your video.
Ryan Giggs is the ________________ player on Manchester United.
why can’t both be used here?
I was wrong NO.3and No.4.
The ( ) person… why is “both” wrong? And No.4 too
Thanks for this free lesson. I am learning a lot.
thx 4 the lesson this is the first time i know wt’s the different between oldest and eldest
thanks for the topic .. you explained it very well.
Thanks!! :D
great lesson
thnx for lesson mr alex
it is a extremely mind blowing technique……..
THANKS ALEX…….
mr alex is the greatest teacher’yes you’re right it’s oldest only good job!!!
Dear Alex,
“As far as” VS “So far as”
Those combination of words confuses me.
The both have the same translation.
Could you please explain me difference in their application?
Wow! Great teacher. keep it up!
Thanks for your good lesson,it makes me more understand.
whoaa.. i wasn’t unsure about the differences between those two words, now i do…thank you teacher!! :D
thanks for lesson!
I like your course,Alex.thank you so much.
Well, I was lil worse in grammer. but now-a-days takin quiz and watchin engvid improved me. thanks a lot!!! ^_^ <3<3
firstly,I thank all the group teachers.believe me if i said that all your lessons are helpful. and they’ll assist not only students but anyone had a desire to improve his/her language.i’m a moroccan english student .I send you many salute. please; could you do some videos about how to lecture ,I mean how to deliver a presentation? thanks ,take care;cheerio
hi alex! someone hacked you facebook account, and starts to talk to me asking for money..
take care
I have been studying English at school but now I am thinking leave it and use that time to attend your lessons. You explain exelente, I’m agree, you are doing a great job!!
thanks alex
many thanks to you
thanx
i love this link a lot!! thanks.. it’s very useful for me!!
thanx Alex
Good Lesson! Thank you!
Thanks sir,I really known difference between oldest and eldest and now next I will be not confuse when I use to this word,Thanks once again
Way 2 go!
Could you explain this
I am the __________ sibling in my family.
oldest
eldest
both
the answer is both…
why…???
U know…both r correct bcoz we can use both eldest n oldest 2 talk about people n sibling is a person.
Glad I could help!
Shouldn’t the answer of both questions no.3 and no.4 be (both)?
Can i get the basic tutorials
Here’s a link to all our beginner-level lessons.
Hi Alex
Thank u to teach us
I scored 9 out of 10
thanks alot
ha make two mistake :( its question 3 and 4 why are there answer oldest and not’t both? where are personal used I don’t understand
Thanks a lot Mr. Alex for clarifying the difference between eldest and oldest.
I’ve never understood the difference between oldest and eldest…you’ve explained so well…so I don’t have any doubts, now. Thank you for your class
Thanks a lot!!
Great job, Really!!
VERY CONFUSING GUESENT
thanks Alex.. Very good lesson!
HI ELVIRA35
LETS KEEP IN TOUCH ..ADD ON MSN aleklawa@hotmail.com
Very nice, thank you
good one
hey alex would you plz make a video on use of would in future
“absolute” and “superlative” don’t matter. eldest can be used for any group of related persons, especially relatives or the same family. in reality, it is mostly only used in reference to siblings.
#3: the group if people live in the world. it is not a family.
#4: players belonging to Manchester United is not a family.
#5: it refers to relative.
#7: it refers to siblings.
#10: it also refers to siblings.
Thank you Alex
Hi Alex, Thanks for your lesson. As many people asked before, I neither understand why in the quiz the answers of the questions 3 and 4 are “oldest” and not “both”? Jeanne Calment and Ryan Giggs are both people… Please explain it to us!!
thanks dear teacher I have a question please
May I use only eldest if it is fit for both people and things so I will be free and get red of the grammar problems
HI Alex,
Your lessons are incredibly interesting. I have a terrible confusion regarding usage of Although, yet or still in one single sentence. Can these be used?
Thanks
thanks a lot for this lesson.
I have a question, why we can not use both in the following sentence?
The __________ person to ever live was named Jeanne Calment. She was from France, and died at the age of 122.
oldest
eldest
both
Thanks
Thanks a lot Alex for your time and effort, and I have a question on this lesson, you mentioned that Oldest can be used person, things and absolutes, it means that for superlatives we are just allowed to use Oldest where there is The ….before that so why we can see the opposites in the examples?
thank you very much for such interesting lesson
Thank you so much.
thank you for this lesson.i understood everything about this grammar rule but except -both-
Thanks Alex. I got 90%. It was very interesting.You are the One !
thanks Alex, I got 90%! Very good lesson!
hi Alex. i have some confusion about the differences between ‘convince’ and ‘persuade’. could you explain more clearly for me, plz?