Learn English – two months later vs in two months

futuretime

I've come across the adverb 'later' in the past tense to refer to something that takes place at a time following an earlier time

e.g. "He resigned two months later"

I wonder if we can also use it in the future tense. I know we can use it alone in a sentence like "I'll talk to you later", but what about its use with a time scale in a sentence like, "He will resign two months later"

I've generally heard native speakers say something like this: "He will resign in two months"

Can we use them both to refer to the same thing, or does the former not make sense at all?

Thank you in advance

Best Answer

He will resign two months later is perfectly grammatical and idiomatic, but means "later than the (future or possible) events I am talking about". It would not be understood as "two months from now".

So The deal will be completed next May and he will resign two months later unambiguously says that he will resign in July.

Conversely "in two months" means "two months from now". The deal will be completed next May and he will resign in two months I would find confusing: I'd probably conclude that it meant he would resign in July, but I would not be sure.