Phrase-Usage – ‘The Summer Before Last’ vs ‘Last Summer’

phrase-usage

Let's say today is September the first, 2020 and I want say that I did something in the summer of 2019. I cannot say I went on vacation last summer because even though the summer of 2020 has just ended, it would still reffered to the summer of 2020,right? What would be the most natural way to refer to the summer of 2019, when I am in September the first 2020? Do the following sound natural?

I went on vacation in the summer before last.

I went on vacation in the summer last year.

Best Answer

In your context, Last summer refers to summer from a previous year. For instance, an article Donald Trump touted Apple manufacturing jobs in Austin on Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know. created on November 20, 2019 refers to an event from 2018 and uses last summer to describe that summer:

Last summer, the company signed the Trump administration’s Pledge to America’s Workers and committed to creating 10,000 training opportunities for American workers and students over the next five years.

This summer refers to summer from a current year. For example, an article Trump Ukraine pressure campaign was ‘a domestic political errand,’ from November, 2019 refers to the 2019 summer as this summer:

Hill recalled an argument she had this summer with Gordon Sondland, Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, who was by then deeply involved in a secretive effort to get Ukraine to launch investigations.

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