100 Mistakes #11 - Next, Last and Latest

The latest album by David Bowie is called "The Next Day".

We use "the latest" to talk about the newest thing: books, magazines, music, products etc. Notice that we say it is the latest, because we are thinking about what's new and what's happening now.

So, on the 15th July 2014, the latest iPhone is an iPhone 5, the latest issue of New Musical Express has the Libertines on the cover, and the latest news on the BBC is about Israeli bombing in Gaza.

So Andy, what's the latest album by David Bowie?

I told you, it's called "The Next Day".

And what's the latest album by the Beatles?

Erm, well there isn't a latest album by the Beatles because they split up in 1970.

Ok, then, what was the last album they released?

Let It Be (which was actually recorded before Abbey Road.)

Really?

Yes, really.

We use "the last" when we are thinking about the most recent thing in the past.
We are not focusing on what's new and what's happening now. Notice that we say it was the last because we are thinking about the past.

When was the latest time you went to France?
When was the last time you went to France?

'Next' and 'last' in time clauses

In English we use 'next' and 'last' in time clauses with no article (without "the") to talk about the time after this and the time before this.

Last week, I went to Bulgaria, this week I'm staying in Barcelona and next week, I'm going to Bournemouth.
Next month, I'm starting a course in logic and next year, I'm hoping to go to university.

You can use "next time" when you want to refer to the next scheduled event but we never use "next day" without an article.

Next day we can talk about your favourite David Bowie albums.

Next time we can talk about your favourite David Bowie albums.

Which leaves us with one question:

Why is David Bowie's latest album called "The Next Day"?

You can use "the next day", if there is a clear sequence of days.

The first day we went to the beach; the next day we played crazy golf, the next day it rained, so we went down into a cave to see the stalactites, and the last day, we went to the beach again. There wasn't much else to do.

In the David Bowie song, it sounds like his holiday was even worse:

"Here I am, not quite dying
My body left to rot in a hollow tree
Its branches throwing shadows
On the gallows for me
And the next day
And the next
And another day"