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Tenacious Learner Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Paraphrases for 'last'?

Hi teachers,
Would 'the most recent' as well as 'the previous' be appropriate paraphrases for 'last' in the following sentences?
a) They were delivered to the store last Thursday.
b) She phoned a few of the customers last week.

Thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

No. 'The most recent' is unnatural, and 'the previous' could be incorrect.

— Fivejedjon

  • No.
  • 'The most recent' is unnatural, and 'the previous' could be incorrect.
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11 Answers
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No.

'The most recent' is unnatural, and 'the previous' could be incorrect.
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fivejedjon'The most recent' is unnatural, and 'the previous' could be incorrect.
Hello, fivejedjon.
Thank you for your reply. How about 'the past', would this one work?

TL
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fivejedjonIt's not natural.
Hello fivejedjon,
Then I really don't know which one to use.
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I think I wouldn't object to saying "this past Thursday", but I don't know if it's acceptable in British English.
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ozzourti I wouldn't object to saying "this past Thursday", but I don't know if it's acceptable in British English.
Hello ozzourti,
Thank you for your reply.
I really thought that in some cases using "last" or "past" wouldn't make any difference.

TL
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Fred: I saw Fred last week. This is fine.
Fred: I saw Fred past week. This is not.

Percy told me that he had seen Fred last week. This is fine if 'last week' is still the week before the one in which this is reported.
Percy told me that he had seen Fred the previous week/the week before. This is fine.It is referring to the week before the one in which P
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fivejedjonContext is vital.
How right you are! It is always.

Hi fivejedjon,
Wow! That's quite an explanation and great examples!
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a) They were delivered to the store last Thursday.
b) She phoned a few of the customers last week.
Tenacious LearnerFor my examples I can use the previous week/the week before.Reasons:a) The speaker is referring to the week before the one in which the books (they) were delivered to the store.
Y
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fivejedjon'Last week' is the one before this one. 'The previous week' is the one before a known one.
Hello fivejedjon,
Thanks you for that crystal clear explanation too.
I understand why 'last' and 'previous' are not always synonyms; as you've said it depends on the context, like this one:
They went to Australia last year (2012), but the
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