July 6, 2014　=========
☆ ex-wife/husband　　前妻／夫
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“ex-“ can bee added to nouns to show that someone or something is no longer the thing that the noun is referring to. So in today’s example, the “ex-wife” is no longer his wife, and the “ex-husband” is no longer her husband. You can also use “ex-“ with other nouns, such as “ex-President”, “ex-girlfriend”, “ex-coworker”, or even something like “ex-soldier” (meaning that she or he is no longer a soldier).
You can also just use “ex” as a noun, rather than a prefix. For example, if you see your ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend somewhere, you could say to someone, “that is my ex and his new girl/boyfriend.” Or you could introduce someone by saying, “this is Tom, Mary’s ex.” When you use just “ex” it should be clear to the other person what kind of “ex” it is, in other words, the other person would know if Tom was the “ex-boyfriend” or “ex-husband”. And of course, in the case of introducing Tom as “Mary’s ex” the other person would know who Mary is. If it is not clear what kind of relationship it was, then use the words “-girlfriend”, “-wife” or “-husband” instead of just “ex”.
Bye,
Chris