Difference between "lately" and "recently" ?

'lately', 'recently', and 'of late' all mean essentially the same thing.

The difference is in register. 'lately' is the most commonly used. 'recently' is much used, and only slightly more formal. 'of late' is hardly ever used. To me it seems very formal and old-fashioned. In an everyday conversation, the speaker who uses 'of late' might be considered pretentious by his conversation

Thanks Jim, but I was watching a TV program (a long ago) and there it was something about recently and lately...I mean they were telling the difference between these two words. And they gave some examples where we can not use "recently", only "lately" is correct to use... I am sorry I forgot the examples. I remember a little about one example : about giving birth to a child... use of "recently"(I

Hi Meg,

I agree completely with CalifJim's response.

It seems to me that sometimes you can only use one form.

1) I recently got a phone from a woman named Meg. Do you know her?

2) I lately got a phone call from a woman named Meg. (this sounds awkward and incorrect to me; I can't explain why)

3) Lately, I have been getting a lot of calls from th

For me , lately and recently have quite different meaning.

I find the difference in the duration of the events or circumstances they are refering to.
I think recently denotes short duration , while lately refers to something that could be happening for long time. Also, recently can refer to something happened in a specific moment.

I've been living in the countryside late

As I think about it more, I believe it has to do with whether the sentence is talking about an event or an activity or state. Apparently "lately" can go with states and activities, but not with events. "Recently" can go with anything. Is that a possibility?

Since it's getting late here, I leave it as an exercise to the reader to find examples which prove or disprove the point!

CalifJim & Elena,

Jim, I think you you found the magic solution! Your logic seems to work in all the examples that Elena and I put forward.

Nice to meet you Elena. I don't think we've participated in a thread together before.

It is an excellent question. It certainly stumped me. Nice work CalifJim!

MountainHiker

Thank you so much for explaining the difference. While using the words lately and recently, sometimes in some statements use of lately seems to me awkward. Thanks to Jim, now I know the reason.

BTW, dear MountainHiker, what is your phone number? A woman named Meg, is planning to call you. <----- (just kidding)

Regards.

0 My student and I think the difference is that "lately" is used mainly in the negative and question forms, while "recently" can be used in all forms. 02br
00Bruce Ingraham02br
00Bukhara, Uzbekistan0-

0I have been doing a lot of exercise lately. (lately = recently?)05002br
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00Recently, I have been to the doctor's office. (recently = lately?)05102br
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00IMO, the difference is not the length of time in which the action is set, but the frequency.02br
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00This is what I read somewhere sometime.010id3811id37

There is a difference in sentence position, it seems. At least in American English, "lately" does not seem natural between the subject and the verb, whereas "recently" sounds fine there.
For example: I've recently been studying Norwegian in earnest. (sounds okay)
I've lately been studying Norwegian in earnest. (weird)
Both can stand at the beginning and end of t