E34 Intermediate English: How to Talk About Past and Future Event Dates

🕰️Are you confused about talking about time in English? Do you struggle to say if something happened in the past, present, or future? Do you understand the difference between "a year ago", "in the last year", "next year", and "within the next year?"

🎧Don't worry! This episode of the Learn English podcast is here to help! As someone who teaches English online to non-native speakers, I often encounter confusion when it comes to discussing past and future events. But don't worry, I'm here to guide you through it. We'll explore how native speakers express when things happened or will happen, so you can communicate more effectively in English.

🗣️This episode will give you different phrases you can use to talk about past and future events, depending on when they are occurring. We'll cover saying like "ago," "last," and "in the past" to talk about the past. You'll also learn how to use "this," "next," and "in the next" to discuss future events. You'll learn which to use depending on whether you have a specific date in mind or a general timeframe.

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📝 Vocabulary list:

1) Demarcate: To set the boundaries or limits of; separate or distinguish.

2) Clarify: To make (a statement or situation) less confused and more comprehensible.

3) Decade: A period of ten years.

4) Century: A period of one hundred years.

5) Millennium: A period of one thousand years.

Talking about the Past

• yesterday - the day before today
• a go - used with numbers of days, weeks, months, etc. to indicate how long ago something happened (e.g., three weeks ago)
• this past - refers to a recent time period (e.g., this past week)
• last - used with specific days of the week, months, seasons, holidays, or years (e.g., last Friday, last month)
• in the last - used for longer periods in the past, often when something started in the past and continues to the present (e.g., In the last 20 years, technology has changed rapidly)

Talking about the Future

• this - refers to the current week, month, season, or year (e.g., This Friday, I'm going to the movies)
• next - refers to the following week, month, or year (e.g., Next summer, we're planning a trip to Europe)
• in/within - used with "the next" for a general timeframe in the future (e.g., In the next few days, I'll call my mom)
• from now - used with a number and a unit of time (e.g., Three weeks from now, we're moving)