Elder & elder:
(plural: ‘elders‘)
Valerie K. Brown, Elder, Mt. Lebanon Missionary Baptist Church, USA
Elder, always with a capital ‘E’, is ‘a priest who holds an official position in Christian Church, usually having pastoral or teaching functions’;
elder, without a capital letter when used in the middle of a sentence, is ‘a person who is more in age than another person’;
an old person who deserves or has respect in a family, community or tribe,
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Serena Williams (R) is the elder sister of Venus Williams (L)
Elder, older; eldest, oldest
“Elder and eldest” are used only of persons – seniority than age.
(they are used with members of the same family.)
** “Elder” is not used with conjunction ‘than’.
“Older and oldest” are used of both persons and things – time (age)
some elders of a tribe
e.g. John is my elder brother. Ahmed is his eldest son. (family relation — seniority)
Tom is older than his sister. (of people — family relation — age)
Sarah is the oldest girl in the class. (of people — no family relation – age)
Town Hall is the oldest building in our town. (of things – age)
“Tom is older than his sister.” so “Tom is her elder brother.” and “She is his younger sister.”
There are, however, some occasions where “older and oldest” are used for showing the seniority of members of the same family. Here we have a good example:
“Is Aunt Dee your oldest sister, Dad?” (family relation – seniority – but “oldest” is used) Taken from ‘BASIC SKILLS IN ENGLISH’ Book 6, by The Editorial Staff of Mc Dougal, Littell and Company, USA.)
a young woman showing her respect to an elderly person by touching his feet
Maleeva Sisters, three great tennis champions from the same family (from Bulgaria)!
Maleeva Sisters: Manuela (M), Katerian (L) and Magdalena (R) are sisters: Manuela is the eldest of the three sisters and Magdalena is the youngest of the three sisters. Manuela is older than Katerina and Magdalena and Magdalena is younger than Manuela and Katerina. Katerina is Magdalena’s elder sister, and Manuela is Katerina’s elder sister. Magdalena has two elder sisters!
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