'Young' or 'Younger'
2024-04-27
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1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from David in China.
2Hello,
3My name is David, and I am from China.
4Here comes a sentence "My mother had a sweet singing voice when she was younger".
5My question is that whether we can use "young" instead "younger" or not?
6I am looking forward to receiving your reply.
7Thank you very much.
8David
9Thank you for writing, David.
10This is a good question.
11The short answer is yes. You can use "young" instead of "younger."
12But using "young" instead of "younger" does change the meaning of the sentence just a bit.
13Let's look at the differences between the two choices.
14"Young" and "younger" are both adjectives.
15Adjectives are words that describe nouns.
16"Younger" is a comparative adjective.
17Comparative adjectives are used to compare two people or things.
18Comparative adjectives are easy to recognize because they often have an "-er" ending.
19They are also often, but not always, followed by the conjunction "than."
20Let's look again at David's original example sentence:
21My mother had a sweet singing voice when she was younger.
22In this situation, "younger" is describing "mother."
23But it is not so clear what is being compared.
24That is because we sometimes leave out information from a sentence.
25Even without the extra information, however, the listener or reader is still likely to understand the full thought or meaning.
26As readers, we understand the full meaning of David's sentence to be: My mother had a sweet singing voice when she was younger than she is now.
27We do not know how old the mother is now. But we know she had a sweet singing voice when she was younger than her current age.
28Let's say, for example, that the writer's mother is 60 years old.
29The writer of the sentence could mean that his mother had a sweet singing voice when she was 40 years old, for example.
30Or the writer could mean that his mother had a sweet singing voice when she was 15 years old.
31Both 15 years old and 40 years old are younger than 60.
32Now let's consider how the sentence's meaning might change if we were to use "young" instead of "younger." The sentence would be:
33My mother had a sweet singing voice when she was young.
34The meaning has changed just a bit. Now it is clear that the writer means his mother had a sweet singing voice when she was a young person, or in her youth.
35We hope this explanation has helped you, David.
36Do you have a question about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com.
37And that's Ask a Teacher.
38I'm Gena Bennett.
1Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from David in China. 2Question 3Hello, 4My name is David, and I am from China. 5Here comes a sentence "My mother had a sweet singing voice when she was younger". My question is that whether we can use "young" instead "younger" or not? 6I am looking forward to receiving your reply. 7Thank you very much. 8David 9Answer 10Thank you for writing, David. This is a good question. 11The short answer is yes. You can use "young" instead of "younger." But using "young" instead of "younger" does change the meaning of the sentence just a bit. 12Let's look at the differences between the two choices. 13"Young" and "younger" are both adjectives. Adjectives are words that describe nouns. "Younger" is a comparative adjective. Comparative adjectives are used to compare two people or things. Comparative adjectives are easy to recognize because they often have an "-er" ending. They are also often, but not always, followed by the conjunction "than." 14Let's look again at David's original example sentence: 15My mother had a sweet singing voice when she was younger. 16In this situation, "younger" is describing "mother." But it is not so clear what is being compared. That is because we sometimes leave out information from a sentence. Even without the extra information, however, the listener or reader is still likely to understand the full thought or meaning. 17As readers, we understand the full meaning of David's sentence to be: My mother had a sweet singing voice when she was younger than she is now. 18We do not know how old the mother is now. But we know she had a sweet singing voice when she was younger than her current age. 19Let's say, for example, that the writer's mother is 60 years old. The writer of the sentence could mean that his mother had a sweet singing voice when she was 40 years old, for example. Or the writer could mean that his mother had a sweet singing voice when she was 15 years old. Both 15 years old and 40 years old are younger than 60. 20Now let's consider how the sentence's meaning might change if we were to use "young" instead of "younger." The sentence would be: 21My mother had a sweet singing voice when she was young. 22The meaning has changed just a bit. Now it is clear that the writer means his mother had a sweet singing voice when she was a young person, or in her youth. 23We hope this explanation has helped you, David. 24Do you have a question about American English? Send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com. 25And that's Ask a Teacher. 26I'm Gena Bennett. 27Gena Bennett wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.