Family words and idioms

A family is a group of people related to each other by blood or marriage. There are several types of family:

• The nuclear family consists of only the parents and their children.
• The extended family is formed by parents, children, uncles and aunts, grandparents, etc.
• In a one-parent or single-parent family there is only one parent living with the chidren, either because they are divorced or because they have decided to raise their children single-handedly.

Nuclear family	Extended family	single-parent family

Let's see the most common family words in English in the following presentation:

Other words related to the family:

• A relative is someone who belongs to your family. Relatives can either be close or distant: She inherited the money from a distant relative she had never met. 
• Relation is another way to say "relative", especially in spoken English. A blood relation is someone who is related to you by birth, not by marriage. 
• Your next of kin is your closest relative: My brother is listed as my next of kin on all my emergency forms.
• Kinsman is an old-fashioned word to say "relative", but also, by extension, a person of the same nationality or ethnic group: She may marry her late husband's brother or some other kinsman of his.
• Ancestors or forefathers (notice that you cannot say foreparents) are the people from whom you are descended.
• Descendants are the relatives of a person or group of people who are born many years after them: He claims to be a direct descendant of Napoleon.
• Folks (usually plural) is an informal word meaning your family, especially your parents: I'll go home this Christmas to see my folks.

There are many idioms related to the family. Let's see a few of them in the following presentation:

You can see more family idioms in the BBC World Service page.
Exercises:

• Play hangman with the descriptions of members of the family.
• Family tree exercise.
• Family idioms exercise.

That's all folks!
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