There are other meanings for each word that will be discussed in greater depth in the sections below. When to use former: Former is an adjective that has several different definitions, all of which relate to something that is previous to another thing or time. For the first definition, former can mean the first of two items mentioned in a sequence. The second definition is something from a previous or earlier time. The third and final meaning indicates a position or state that a person had in the past, but no longer holds.
Because all three meanings are related to something that happened first in time, the definitions are fairly similar. Grammarly can save you from misspellings, grammatical and punctuation mistakes, and other writing issues on all your favorite websites. The Simpsons and Game of Thrones are both great shows, but I prefer the former.
She thinks polar bears and hamsters are both cute, but I could only recommend the latter as a pet. This writer holds a belief that hamsters, the last animal mentioned, is the better of the two companions for a human. Readers tend to be confused by this because it essentially asks the reader to glance back at the two items to reference which item was listed first and which was last.
And, unsurprisingly, the speaker is here saying they prefer cake to death. For instance, we could rewrite the previous example as follows:. Between cake and death , I prefer the former. Alternatively, we could rephrase the sentence so that we focus on the second option:. Between cake and death , only a fool would choose the latter. Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox. Out of carrots , broccoli , and turnips , I only eat the latter.
But to distinguish between items in a longer list in formal writing, you can use ordinal numbers. This is also clearer, as each item in the list will have a specific numbered position. For example:. The first and third of these are for extra masculinity, while the second is for flavor. To remember the difference, remember that latter sounds like and is related to the word later —so the latter item is the one that was mentioned later. Example: The report presented two alternative plans: the former would be easier to implement; the latter would be less expensive.
Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between former and latter. Should former or latter be used in the following sentence? That latter fear crossed my mind more than once during the evening. In both of these latter cases, their eyes show more focus than fun, like tonight is a job.
The former is controlled by the Palestinian Authority, the latter by the government of Israel.
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