This week or next?

I’ve written before about how people use the words this and next when referring to weeks. And the ensuing confusion. I’d love it if you could complete the ten questions below to figure out whether people are consistent in their views, or whether confusion reigns.

This was prompted by my friend Alan, reading from Austria a reader’s letter on the very subject in yesterday’s Telegraph.

Thanks for your time. (One submission each, please.)

March 26, 2009 | Filed Under General, Grammar etc. 

Comments

8 Responses to “This week or next?”

  1. Nick Robinson on March 27th, 2009 15:07

    I can’t see the full width of the results – perhaps yet another Firefox issue?

    I was very interested in how it seemed to be the presence of the weekend (i.e. Saturday & Sunday) that was my determiner for using ‘this’ – comes before a weekend and ‘next’ – comes after a weekend

  2. Dan on March 27th, 2009 21:13

    Yeah, sorry about that Nick. If you right-click, iFrame, open in new window, that gets you to see it all. But unfortunately the sub-questions are not listed. Not a FF issue, more my web design skills

    Still in beta mode ;-)

  3. Mor on April 21st, 2009 04:42

    How do I know which answer is right?

  4. Dan on April 21st, 2009 08:53

    I’m afraid you don’t, Mor. It seems there is no right or wrong answer, merely different interpretations. Best bet is to use dates to avoid any confusion.

  5. Britt_W on November 20th, 2010 19:42

    I’ve always found this tricky, I always hesitate. However, I feel a bit better now that I’m not alone in being unsure.

  6. John H on February 23rd, 2011 17:04

    Some of those could have done with a “I wouldn’t say it that way” option!

    I had this issue with an American woman at our church, who emailed me on a Monday or Tuesday asking me to play the piano to accompany her daughter’s singing, and asked if I could turn up an hour early “next Sunday”.

    I dutifully turned up at 9.15 the following Sunday, only for it to become apparent that by “next Sunday” she had in fact meant the Sunday after /that/…

  7. The Good Writing Blog on February 23rd, 2011 17:19

    That was surprisingly tricky. I had the biggest problem with the first question, as generally I’d never use “This Monday” on a Monday. It would be “Today,” “Next Monday” or nothing.

  8. Nic on February 24th, 2011 18:30

    I always think the week runs Monday to Sunday and anything within that period is ‘this’ and beyond it is ‘next’ – that said, question one foxed me as I wouldn’t expect someone on the day in question to use ‘this Xday’ as a description at all, by the day in question, there is only next!

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