An ex is a former partner: someone you used to date or were married to. The word is informal: my ex, her ex. On its own, ex is always about relationships. For a former boss or colleague, you need the prefix with a hyphen and the role: my ex-boss, my ex-colleague. With friends, my ex sounds natural; ex-wife and ex-husband are fine in neutral speech too, including IELTS Speaking, while in an essay former partner is better.
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my/her/his + ex; ex- + boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband; ex- + role (ex-boss, ex-colleague)
- my ex just texted me happy birthday, should I reply or not?
- she's still friends with her ex, they even go hiking together
- I bumped into my ex-boss at the airport and we chatted for an hour
What changed
First versionMy ex called me today: he wants me back on his team at the bank.
RevisionMy ex-boss called me today: he wants me back on his team at the bank.
It's tempting to use ex for anyone from your past, and here the sentence is about work. But a bare my ex is a former partner, so he wants me back sounds like a love story rather than a job at the bank. Naming the role, ex-boss, fixes it. Nothing else was changed.
With a hyphen, ex- works as a prefix with any role: ex-president, ex-teammate, ex-smoker. The neutral alternative is former: my former teacher, the former mayor. In an essay or a formal letter, former sounds more appropriate than ex-.
Your turn
I quit that job in May, but my ___ still calls me to ask where I saved the reports.
Show the answer
ex-boss — You left the job, and the calls are about reports, so it's your former boss: ex-boss. A bare ex means a former partner, and the sentence would turn into a story about a relationship.
Write to a friend about an unexpected meeting with someone from your past: use ex or ex- with the person's role and say where you met.
guess who I saw at the gym today, my ex-colleague from the bank!
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