I always get these adjectives and determiners confused as regards their use and shades of meaning. Let's take a structure meaning “in the last few years”. Would it be right to use any of the following possibilities for conveying that meaning?
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With LAST: In the/these LAST years.
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With LATE: In the/these LATE years. Is this a synonym for the previous sentence or even correct? Does it convey the same meaning? What about LATER?
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With LATTER: In the/these LATTER years. ¿?¿?
I hope someone can clarify this question to me, and forgive me if something about this is too obvious: I’m a Spanish speaker trying to figure out some nuances of grammar and meaning in English that are answered by consulting English or bilingual dictionaries, which have too many options, or by automatic machine translations, which erase all trace of fine nuance.
Best Answer
The term late is an adjective and has got two forms in terms of "time and order"
Late (time) –>later –>latest
Late (order) –>latter –>last
When it is a matter of time it suggests the point in time e.g., “The latest discoveries (the most recent discoveries) of genome has startled the world” as compared to "later" (before the latest discoveries) “…in the same domain, nonetheless, research started "late" in the 19th century.”
When it is a matter of order it suggests the position e.g., “George had a heated argument with Smith which resulted in physical clash, but latter (Smith) ran off in last”
Hope it will help you