Category Archives: General
A word on Grammar: Old or Elder, Farther or Further
Very often I have been asked this question in class. What’s the difference between Farther /ˈfɑː.ðər/ and Further /ˈfɜː.ðər/ and between Older /əʊldə/ and Elder/ˈel.dər/?
♥ Farther /Further
– Distance: both farther and further are used to talk about physical distance . There is no difference between them.
Ex : Leon is further /farther away than Oviedo
– Additional: Further is used when we want to mean ” additional” ” extra” “more advanced”.
Ex : For further information, see page 153.
♥Older/Elder
We use Elder when we want to talk about the order of birth of the members of a family . They are only used before nouns, ie, in attributive position
Compare:
My elder /older daughter has just found her first job
My sister is two years older than me
My eldest /oldest daughter has just found a job
Peter is the oldest student in his classroom
Now, fancy doing some practice?
Protected: SPEAKING TEST
Some common mistakes : cook and cereal
Well,well , the first unit in the book I am teaching this year to Intermediate students is about food and if I didn’t know any better I would think it was intentionally placed in the first unit to remind me that I need to seriously consider going on a diet to try to lose the ??? pounds gained after stuffing myself with tons of ice cream. Haven’t I read somewhere that Uma Thurman, the actress, lost 25 pounds in six weeks by eating ice cream , chocolate and pudding??? Just joking !! But wouldn’t it be just great if celebrities kept their strange fad diets to themselves ? Or rather not??? That way I can always put the blame on Uma Thurman ! 😉
Anyway, talking about food , I feel I need to remind my students not to make two of the 
most common mistakes we, Spaniards, make when talking about food.
Mistake 1. When I grow up I want to be a cooker. If a person who teaches is a teacher and a person who runs is a runner , why is a person who cooks called a cook and not a cooker?
♥A cook= a person who cooks
My mother is a very good cook
♥A cooker= an apparatus where food is cooked (also called stove in AmE)
Do you have an electric or a gas cooker?
Mistake 2. I like cereals for breakfast.
Cereal is an uncountable noun, so you should say I like cereal for breakfast or a bowl of cereal.
Cereals can also be a plural countable noun. In that case, you are referring to the different kinds of cereals such as oat, barley , wheat or brands like corn flakes , rice krispies or choco crispies.
There are so many different kinds of cereals in this shop that I never know which one to buy.
Hope it is helpful! Keep posted!
It’s been a pleasure to teach you !!
