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Mariya
mid, about, early, late, forties?
He is ABOUT 20 = 19 , 20 or 21
He's in his FORTIES = between 41 and 49
He's MID thirties = between 34 аnd 36
She's in her LATE sixties. = between 67and 69
He is EARLY seventies = between 71 and 73
I didn't understand why in this sentencies use this words.I thought when we are talking about age we can use only 'about'.I didn't understand especially about LATE and EARLY.Please help me .
Feb 7, 2019 3:31 PM
Answers · 2
1
Hi Mariya,
In English we usually use the words 'around' 'about' 'mid' 'early' 'late' and '...something' when we talk about age colloquially. This is not for formal writing.
1. Around - this implies that we are guessing or approximating a person's age. Ex. "She´s around 20 years old
2. About - is the same as 'around' but we don't use this as often.
3. Mid - this implies that we think the person's age is the middle of that range. We usually use this with the preposition 'in' and a possessive pronoun 'his' or 'her'. Ex. "He's in his mid thirties" means we think he's between 34 - 36 years old. You can also sometimes hear English speakers say "He's mid thirties" but the other form with the preposition is more common (same with Early and Late).
4. Early - this implies that we think the person's age is in the early portion of that range. Again, we usually use this with the preposition 'in' and a possessive pronoun. Ex. "She's in her early thirties" OR "She's early thirties" (less common). This means 30-34.
5. Late - this implies that we think the person's age is in the later portion of that range. Again with 'in' and a possessive pronoun. Ex. "He's in his late thirties" OR "He's late thirties" (less common). This means 36-39.
6. When we are not sure of the range sometimes we can say thirtysomething, fourtysomething, fiftysomething, etc. OR use the preposition 'in' and a possessive pronoun with thirties, fourties, fifties, etc. This implies the full range of that age group. Ex 1. "She's thirtysomething" which implies 30-39. OR Ex. 2 "She's in her thirties".
Hope this helped.
February 7, 2019
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Mariya
Language Skills
English, Russian, Spanish
Learning Language
English, Spanish
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