Grammar usage
Hello Sir,
You answers are really very helpful to improve my english. Thank you very much for your quick response to our questions. An English trainer who claims the sentence below is correct. Please clarify the doubt. This question is to know rank of the brothers.
1. In what order are you placed amongst the son/daughter of your father?
2. I was wondering if you could explain the difference between above , over, below and under with some examples.
Regards,
Sanjay
sanjay
Expert
1 answer 
There is no set way for birth order to be referred to in English, unless dictated by the culture of the conversationalists.
Being British, I would probably ask two questions to get the information:
- How many brothers and sisters do you have?
- Are you the oldest/youngest/in the middle?
The person I am speaking with will usually respond with their place in the order, whether that be first/oldest, last/second/youngest, middle/second/third, etc.
If they don't, if they say simply "I'm in the middle" and you know there are more than three of them, you can always ask how many are older or younger than them to work out their placement. In Britain however, birth order is generally not as important is it is in some other places around the world, and so continued questioning to get to the exact position might be seen as rude.
Additional note 1:
There are two ways in which we refer to children born before others: older and oldest. Which we use depends on how many children are being discussed.
I am older than him. (If there are two of you.)
I am the oldest child. (If there are three or more of you.)
2 children:
Amy is the younger child. She is younger than Bobby.
Bobby is the older child. He is older than Amy.
Bobby is the older of the two children.
Amy is the younger of the two children.
3 children:
Charlie is the youngest child.
Daisy is the middle child. She is older than Charlie and younger than Edward.
Edward is the oldest child. He is older than Daisy and Charlie.
Charlie is Daisy's younger brother. Edward is Daisy's older brother.
Edward is the oldest of the three children.
Edward is the oldest child.
Additional note 2:
Sometimes you will find people saying things like, "I am number one son" or "I am number three daughter". What this means will depend on the culture of the person speaking. In some families is will mean "I am the eldest/oldest boy", in some it will mean "I have two (or more) sisters". In some it will mean "I am the only son", or possibly even "I am the best son".
Additional note 3:
Occationally you will hear people say 'elder' and 'eldest' instead of 'older' and 'oldest'. In Britain this is becoming less common.
I hope all that helps!
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answered Mar 20 '12 at 10:33
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