So what is the difference between major and minor?
That’s right, that's what we are going to talk about today in today’s lesson.
My name is Rima and welcome to this lesson.
So I'm gonna take you through the various meanings of these two words major and minor,
that's right.
Now these words may seem fairly average and simple but trust me they have a lot of meanings
and can be used in very different ways.
So the first part is when the word major means either large or important
or serious.
So if I say, I have a major problem, it means I have a serious problem.
Now this is where the word major means serious.
Now if I say something like my friend heads a major company, which means my friend heads
a large company.
That’s where the word major means large.
And if I say something like, my father is going through a major surgery; it means that
my father is going through an important surgery.
Now this is where the word major means important.
So a serious problem could be like someone having an accident or a sickness or a serious
health issue.
So if I say somebody is majorly sick or somebody has a major illness, it means that the illness
is very serious.
Now if I say that some businessman has a major stake in a company, it means that the businessman
has a large stake in the company and the word major is being used to denote the word large.
Now when I talk about a major surgery.
Now it could be like a surgery related to the brain, surgery related to the heart and
that would be a major or an important surgery.
So that's how versatile the word major is.
It can mean large or important or serious depending on the meaning of the sentence.
So what then has minor go to do with things?
Well minor happens to be equally versatile.
So the word minor can mean small or not so important or not so serious.
so if I come home and I say, I faced a minor issue at work, it means I had a small issue
or a small problem to deal with at work and this is something that can get taken care
of very easily.
but if I say something like, I'm going through a minor surgery tomorrow and I'd like to take
the day off, it means I’m going through a surgery but it's not a major surgery, it's
a minor one which means, it's not so serious.
You know it could be like a dental extraction which can be termed a surgery but we all know
it's not as serious as say a heart surgery.
So the word minor takes on the meaning of not so serious when I use it alongside the
word surgery.
Also it takes on the meaning small when I use it with a word like an issue or a problem
or a situation.
Now the third way in which the word minor can be used, it can be used to convey something
that is not so important.
So it's important but not that important.
So you could say something like well my friend Beth actually had a minor accident.
So which means Beth actually you know tripped while walking and she's quite okay and has
no injuries.
But had Beth had a very serious accident, I would've said, Beth had a major accident.
But because her accident was not so important or not so serious, I used the word minor.
So once again the word minor can be used to convey something that is small, something
that is not so important or something that is not so serious.
So I'm sure you can make out the clear difference between the words major and minor.
They are almost like opposites of each other and that's how they are used in sentences.
But this is not the only way to use these words.
Moving on, major and minor can also talk about age.
So when I say that a person is a major or has reached majority age, it
means in most countries, according to the legal and civil definition that the person
is above 18 years of age.
Now in some countries, this could be you know may be 16.
In some countries this could be 18, it depends on the country and when I call a person a
major or I say that a person say John has reached majority age, it means that John is
now 18 years of age and for all practical purposes, this person is considered an adult.
So once you're an adult you get the right to drive, you are allowed to drive.
You are allowed to vote in some countries.
You are also allowed to get married depending on the age limit that has been set in that
particular country.
So the word major can also denote a person's age or the legal age of being an adult in
a particular country.
So what then does the word minor mean?
So minor is someone who is not considered an adult by law.
So in some countries this could be you know somebody who is below 16 years or in other
countries, it could be somebody who is below 18 years of age.
So this person is again not given permission by law to carry out activities such as driving,
you know such a probably voting or such a getting married.
so that's the meaning of the word minor, when it comes to a person's age, it means somebody
who is not considered an adult by the law of the country, somebody who could be below
16 years of age or 18 years of age.
So here again the difference between major and minor is very clear.
Major is somebody who is considered an adult by the law and minor is somebody who is not
considered an adult by the law yet.
Now the third way in which the words major and minor can be used is related to college
education.
So major, as in your college major means the subject that you are majoring in or specializing
in.
a subject you know on which you are carrying out an intensive study in your college course.
So some people are finance majors, some people are history majors which means finance or
history is their specialization.
So if I take up a course which gives me an intense study of history for say three years
or four years, I could easily and comfortably say that my college major was history.
Similarly, if I have to use the word, minor in terms of college education, so your minor
means your college minor or a subject that you may study.
So you could have finance as your major and art as your minor.
You could have history as your major and dance as your minor, which means you did study art,
you did study dance but not as intensively.
So a college minor is something that you study alongside your college major.
But a college major is the most important, specialized subject that you undertake and
you may or may not have a college minor.
So that's the difference between major and minor in terms of college education and lastly
for all the music lovers out there major and minor in terms of music.
Yes, so when it comes to music, major means a major chord and minor means
a minor chord.
Now what is a chord in music?
A chord is actually three or more musical notes played together and there are types
of chords.
Some chords are major chords depending on which note is included and some chords are
minor chords depending on which notes are included.
So major chords actually form the most important part of the tune and minor chords end up supplementing
the tune.
So that's right, when it comes to music, when you say you know that was a major, it meant
that was a major chord or that was a minor meant that was a minor chord.
So if you are playing the guitar or practising the piano, you could use major and minor in
terms of musical chords.
So that’s all about the difference between major and minor and whoever thought that these
two tiny words could have so many different meanings and usages.
I really hope that you enjoyed today's lesson and if you want access to many more lessons,
make sure that you subscribe to our channel; this is me Rima signing out saying bye bye
and take care.