later

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Could I use later?

- He hopes that, when writing your essays you will remember that this will be interesting, that when you have the opportunity to return to the same book several years __ , you will think the book is still good.

My opinion: later is potentially wrong. If you are talking about the future, the correct English is in several years/after several years/several years afterwards. If you mention the exact time, you don't use later. Do you agree?

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@WBYeats,

Then WB would we write,

....to the same book several years in several years/after several years/several years afterwards

Of course WB you must forgive an old fella for kidding just a bit. My first reaction is that "later" is okay. However I get a distinct feeling that context here is crucial

But analysis would seem to get terribly involved (as with the semi in http://able2know.org/topic/302087-1#bottom ) so let's hope we hear from Punk, Mac, Rog, Hal, etc

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@WBYeats,

Quote:

My opinion: later is potentially wrong. If you are talking about the future, the correct English is in several years/after several years/several years afterwards. If you mention the exact time, you don't use later. Do you agree?

You are correct. We use earlier and later about events in the past, not the present or future.

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@WBYeats,

Quote:

My opinion: later is potentially wrong. If you are talking about the future, the correct English is in several years/after several years/several years afterwards. If you mention the exact time, you don't use later. Do you agree?

No, I don't agree. I agree with Dale. "Later" looks fine. If you're not comfortable with it, you could say "from now." Same thing, to me, anyway. But I would use "from now," my own damn self.

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@Tes yeux noirs,

Quote:

We use earlier and later about events in the past, not the present or future

I don't know who "we" is, but people round these here parts will routinely say things like "I'll see you later" (i.e., in the future). Of course, it's usually just shortened to "Later."

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@layman,

Quote:

people round these here parts will routinely say things like "I'll see you later" (i.e., in the future).

I'm not talking about that (we say it around these parts too). I'm talking about these differences:

I bought some beer last Monday and drank it two days later.

I am buying some beer right now and will drink it in two hours' time.

I will buy some beer tomorrow and will drink it two days afterwards.

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@Tes yeux noirs,

Quote:

I'm talking about these differences:

I bought some beer last Monday and drank it two days later.

I am buying some beer right now and will drink it in two hours' time.

I will buy some beer tomorrow and will drink it two days afterwards.

OK, what about them? You're only choosing to use the word "later" in one of the three. Is that supposed to tell us something?

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@layman,

They are illustrations of the appropriate ways to refer to events linked to prior events in the past present and future.

Later is only appropriate in the first.

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@layman,

Are you American? You miss one thing I said

-If you mention the exact time, you don't use later. Do you agree with me that that sentence is wrong?

Even in American English, you don't say I'll see you three days later. If you omit three days, the exact time, that's fine. The problem is, in my first post, 'writing essay' seems to be a reference point; if we say several years later, we might justify it and say that it is the same as 'several years later than the time you wrote the essay', which situation is different from I'll see you three days later.

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One can say "I will see you three days later."

Likewise, one can say:

"I am buying some beer right now and will drink it two hours later."

"I will buy some beer tomorrow and will drink it two days later."

There is nothing ungrammatical about these constructions.

As far as ambiguity is concerned, one assumes a reference point, e.g. the present, in the first sentence.

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@WBYeats,

WBYeats wrote:

-If you mention the exact time, you don't use later.

Did you read this rule in a style manual?

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@WBYeats,

Quote:

-If you mention the exact time, you don't use later. Do you agree with me that that sentence is wrong?

I'm not aware of any hard and fast rule about this.

Quote:

Even in American English, you don't say I'll see you three days later.

No, not normally. "I'll see you in three days" would be common. But everything depends on context. I might say something like this to a friend:

I'll arrive in Chicago on the 26th, and will "see you three days later." That's 3 days after a fixed time. But the "fixed time" is already implied and known when your temporal reference point is the present.

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One can say, "we'll split up today, and I'll see you three days later at my place."

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@InfraBlue,

Quote:

One can say, "we'll split up today, and I'll see you three days later at my place."

One can indeed say that, but it would be still be ungrammatical to some people.

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@WBYeats,

you can use later

it's appropriate in the context

several is not a precise number

___

why have you put a comma here?

WBYeats wrote:

He hopes that, when writing your essays

once upon a time, when I first learned grammar rules, I was taught that the sentence fragments outside of the commas still had to make sense when the portion inside the commas was removed

___

in your example, you're left with

Quote:

He hopes that that when you have the opportunity to return to the same book several years __ , you will think the book is still good.

Quote:

He hopes that, when writing your essays you will remember that this will be interesting you will think the book is still good.

the punctuation and sentence need to be corrected (unless this is meant to be some kind of lyrical writing instead of standard prose)

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@ehBeth,

Quote:

the punctuation and sentence need to be corrected (unless this is meant to be some kind of lyrical writing instead of standard prose)

Me, I woulda put a comma after "essays," too, but there's usually more than one way of doing things. Could have left out the first comma altogether, probably.

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He hopes that, when writing your essays you will remember that this will be interesting, that when you have the opportunity to return to the same book in several years, you will think the book is still good.

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Excellent answers. Thank you.

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later

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