It is now February 2007.You can refer to January 2007 as ‘last month’. But suppose you want to refer to this same January next month, i.e. in March. Now you can’t say ‘last month’, meaning January. ‘Last’ can only refer to an equivalent segment of time, immediately preceding the time of speaking.; thus last year (2006), last decade (1990-2000), last century (1900-2000), etc. If the segment of time is not immediately preceding, you have to refer to it by name; thus (speaking now) last December, last March, etc. (="December" March of 2006)

Suppose now that you are talking about, say, your firm’s sales figures in April, 2006. You want to refer to the figures in March of the same year. ‘Our turnover in April. 2006 was 5 lakh. What was it in the preceding month?’ This will be understood as referring to March 2006. But if you want to refer to some earlier months also, say February and January, etc., you won’t use the word preceding now. You will have to say ‘What was it in some previous months?’ Here we have a nice distinction between preceding (what is just behind) and previous (that and some others also). In December 2006 we had a bumper sale. In the previous months it was just so so.

Now for some points of usage. Although last can be used to refer to any equivalent segment of time preceding the present, the day preceding today is yesterday. You can’t say last day. But it is last night (and not yesterday night) and last evening. And then yesterday morning and not last morning! (At this point I can hear some of you saying ‘My god, this English is really tricky.’)

We have already seen the distinction between previous and preceding. The domain of preceding is the immediate past, a restriction not found with previous. (But you can say in the previous paragraph.) For this reason we have on a previous occasion, on previous occasions / in a previous month/year, etc. (You can’t say on a preceding month / year , in preceding months, etc.

Earlier can be used in the same way as previous. The reference is to blocks of time (weeks, months, years, etc.) in an unspecified past. But when it comes to ‘appointments, engagements’, the word is prior. ‘Sorry I can’t accept your invitation as I have a prior appointment.’ Prior, unlike the other words considered so far can be used in past or future domains. ‘I was invited last Sunday for a birthday party. I had to decline the invitation as I had a prior appointment.’ / ‘Oh, I see the dance is next Sunday at 8p.m. I’m afraid I can’t make it as I have a prior engagement.’

Coming has future reference and can be used of future events in respect of the present. Speaking today you can say ‘Well, we’ll meet again coming Saturday.’ But if you are talking about things in the past, the word is next. ‘I woke up with a terrible headache last Sunday. Next day it became worse.’ In this situation following also can be used.

Questions

The problem of subject –verb agreement seems to have evoked more interest than I had imagined. Some are still debating the correct agreement in the sentence One of the doors which…. The answer I gave some weeks ago is final. I am not going to open that discussion again.

But Chaitanya, who doesn’t agree with my analysis of that sentence, has a problem of his own. He cites this sentence from Deccan Herald. The Nasdaq-100 index is one of the world’s most recognized benchmarks that owes this distinction to its components: companies that are leaders in the (sic) diverse range of industries. (DH December 10, 2006)

Is it owes or owe? Asks Chitanya.

To answer this question you should ask: What is the antecedent of that? What does it refer to — to Nasdaq-100 or benchmarks? Your answer will come out clearly and unhesitatingly if you pit a full stop after benchmarks and begin a fresh sentence. The subject of the new sentence will be It, referring back to the NASDAQ. So agreement is with a singular verb. Owes is correct.

2. You ain’t seen nothing yet. Is this correct? (Chaitanya)

This is one of the most famous of American English expressions. The late President Ronald Reagan was particularly fond of it — a fact recalled by Dame Margaret Thatcher when she flew all the way to Washington to pay her respects to the dead President as his body lay in state in the rotunda of the Capitol. The grammatical version of the sentence would be: You haven’t seen anything yet. But this is never heard. Like OK, You haven’t seen nothing yet has achieved universal currency, although the form ain’t is still considered non-standard on both sides of the Atlantic. The expression is used to suggest that there is much more (with reference to a thing/situation) than what you know. Something like: ‘Wait, there are some surprises.’



Maxims and Observations of Kay S. Wye

The fable of the wolf and the lamb is a parable of Great Power Politics.