latter用法细节_20201029

葛老的惯用法词典中，对latter有这么一个解析

the latter（后者，和 the former 相对）只可以用于两个人或物，不可用于两个以上的人或物，如不可说 He has three friends in Beijing, A, B, and C, the latter is a doctor, 该把 latter 改作 last，last-mentioned 或 last-named。

但又看了下牛津，似乎可以更明确为两类人或物。

比如牛津例句：

The town has a concert hall and two theatres. The latter were both built in the 1950s. 这座城镇有一个音乐厅和两个剧院。这两个剧院都是在 20 世纪 50 年代建成的。

同时，我们还在这里明白了the latter的复数形式仍是the latter。

那如果是三者之间的后者呢？collins又给了我们一个思路。

The latter should only be used to refer to the second of two items which have already been mentioned: Given the choice between working for someone else and being on call day and night for the family business, she'd prefer the latter.

The last of three or more items can be referred to as the last-named. Compare this with the former which is used to talk about the first of two things already mentioned.

类似的细节又可以在陆老的英汉大词典中注意到：

在三者或三者以上作比较时用the last-named, the last-mentioned或the last指末项较普通