Gilda

This came up in class today. I reminded my class that they need to have read a certain novel by "Next Thursday" (also listed in the reading guide in the syllabus, which most students never seem to read). Some requested clarification: Did I mean the Thursday of this week, June 30th, or the Thursday that comes next week, July 7th?

I found it an interesting question, as I had one specific date in mind and was mildly surprised that this could be misunderstood, so I asked the class what they thought I meant, and there was no concensus as to which meaning is the "standard" one.

So, when someone says, "Next [day]" or "Last [day]" do you interpret that to mean the very next/last occurrance of that day, or the occurance of that day that preceeded/follows the one that occurs during the current time frame of reference?

That may sound confusing. If I said "Next Fourth of July", would you assume that I mean July 4th of 2005, the one that comes next in time, or July 4th of 2006, the one that comes next year.

Do "next" and "last" in this context refer to strict chronology, or do they refer to the next and last time period (week, year, etc.)?

What I meant, and clarified for them, was "The Thursday of next week". If I said "next 4th of July", it would refer to 2006, as opposed to 2005 which would be "this 4th of July", or as my mom would say, "This coming 4th of July".

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