a whole sister / a half brother

[englishhobby]

Will it be proper English if I teach my students to say "a whole sister" and "a half brother" about their family members (as it is in the sentence below)?

I have a very big family through divorce and remarriage; not only do I have a half brother and a half sister, a whole sister and two step brothers; I have a family across the world.

 

[Barb_D]

Usually you would refer to your "full sister" rather than a "whole sister" (in my experience) and mention her before the half-brother and haf-sister. Also, I'd expect to hear which was dad's side and which was mom's.

I not only have a full sister, but also a half-brother and half-sister on my dad's side, and two step-brothers from my mom's second marriage. I have family around the world.

Use "family" in the uncountable sense.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Usually you would refer to your "full sister" rather than a "whole sister"

3. Having the same parents: a whole sister. ── quoted from http://www.yourdictionary.com/whole
May it be common in some regions?

 

[Odessa Dawn]

Hi Barb. :-D

Is it I am not only have ... or I not only have ..., please?

 

[Matthew Wai]

The former should be ungrammatical.

Not a teacher.

 

[Odessa Dawn]

***NOT A TEACHER***

Hi englishhobby. :-D

a whole sister/a half brother

Note that you don't need to put a space either side of a slash (/).

(ems)

 

[riquecohen]

3. Having the same parents: a whole sister. ── quoted from http://www.yourdictionary.com/whole
May it be common in some regions?

I can safely say that I've never heard it used that way. (I'm from the notheastern US.)

 

[Matthew Wai]

Ironically it was quoted from the American Heritage Dictionary.

Not a teacher.

 

[Raymott]

It's far more valid to look up the full term. Looking up 'whole' and getting an illustrative sentence is not as convincing as looking up "whole brother" and getting a definition. In any case, I vote for full brother too.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/full-brother

 

[emsr2d2]

I've never heard "whole" brother/sister either.

I am an only child so I've never needed to express this, although I do have a stepbrother and stepsister (no half-siblings though).

 

[SoothingDave]

Me either.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Would it be proper English if I teach my students to say "a whole sister" and "a half brother" about their family members (as it is in the sentence below)?

I have a very big family through divorce and remarriage. Not only do I have a half-brother, a half-sister, a sister, and two step-brothers. I have a family on the other side of the world.

We don't say whole. It's understood.

 

[Matthew Wai]

It's far more valid to look up the full term.

It can be found on http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/whole+sister

Not a teacher.

 

[MikeNewYork]

That doesn't mean it is commonly used.

Ngram