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Jameshe Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

The last

hi there

could somebody tell me what the differents between "the last one" and "the last of it" ?

thanks
  

Top answer

"the last one" means the last thing in a series: I'm sick of peeling potatoes; thank goodness this is the last one. I've nobody else to see after you; you're the last one. "the last of it" is a colloquial expression referring to the termination of some activity, the abandonment of some idea, plan or course of action, or similar: That was a ridiculous idea; hopefully we've now heard the last of it.

— Mr Wordy

  • "the last one" means the last thing in a series: I'm sick of peeling potatoes; thank goodness this is the last one.
  • I've nobody else to see after you; you're the last one.
  • "the last of it" is a colloquial expression referring to the termination of some activity, the abandonment of some idea, plan or course of action, or similar: That was a ridiculous idea; hopefully we've now heard the last of it.
  • You could use "last of it" for the "potatoes" example too: I'm sick of peeling potatoes; thank goodness that's the last of it.
  • "Last of it" refers to "the end of the potato-peeling activity", whereas "last one" specifically refers to the last potato.
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5 Answers
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"the last one" means the last thing in a series:

I'm sick of peeling potatoes; thank goodness this is the last one.

I've nobody else to see after you; you're the last one.

"the last of it" is a colloquial expression referring to the termination of some activity, the abandonment of some idea, plan or course of action, or similar:

That was a ridi
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I overlooked ... "last of it" can also refer to the exhaustion of something that's considered a "quantity" rather than a set of individual things:

There's no more rice pudding after this -- that's the last of it.
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thanks a lot

I got another question

"a stretch of imagination" it that means "difficult to image" ?

thanks
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The more usual expression is "a stretch of the imagination".

Yes, it means "difficult to imagine" (I guess "image" there was just a typo).
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