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Nanushka Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

When to use "the" with last.

I just posted anonymously then realised it would be better to join! So I apologise for the duplicate question.
Why do we use "On THE last day of the month" but "I went last Saturday " or "I caught THE last train"?
Thank you.
  

Top answer

g. last week, last Tuesday, you never have "the". It's idiomatic.

— Michael Chambers Teaching English

  • g.
  • last week, last Tuesday, you never have "the".
  • It's idiomatic.
  • There is no further explanation I know of.
  • The same rule applies to "next".
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3 Answers
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(1) With adverbial time expressions, e.g. last week, last Tuesday, you never have "the". It's idiomatic. There is no further explanation I know of. The same rule applies to "next".

(2) When "last" is used as an ordinary adjective e.g. the last train, "the" is logically necessary because we are identifying a specific train. There can only be one "last" train in any given context. You c
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When time adverbials indicate a period of time, you should use the.

I've lived here for the last 2 years.
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On THE last day of the month
"the last day" is a noun phrase.

I caught THE last train
"the last train" is a noun phrase.

We went (last) Saturday. Let's go next week.
"(last) Saturday" and "next week" are adverb phrases.
We don't use determiners (articles) as adverb modifiers.

The same phrase, "last Saturday" used as a noun phrase (object of the prepositi
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