100 Mistakes #12 - Couples, partners and pairs

In English, when you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, the two of you together are a 'couple' and each person is a 'partner'.

(In Spanish, when you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, the two of you together are a 'pareja' and each person is also a 'pareja'. Crazy!)

But we don't use the word 'partner' in this sense very often. It is usually only used when we want to refer to someone without referring to their gender. So for example, an end-of-year company party invitation might say:

"Partners welcome!"

Or perhaps, when your friend Samantha (a girl) doesn't feel like it's the right moment to announce that she has a girlfriend, she might say:

"I went to see the new Woody Allen film with my partner."

Usually, we just say 'boyfriend' or 'girlfriend'. This doesn't tell us whether it's casual or serious, and it tells us nothing about the age of the people we're talking about.

'Partner' can also be used in the sense of co-owner in a business, or by organisations talking about working with other organisations:

"My business partner emptied the company bank account and flew to Buenos Aires."
"We look forward to working more closely with our partners in China."

'Couple' is also an informal way of saying 'two' or 'approximately two':

"I met up with Richie for a couple of beers."
"There were a couple of kids running around on the grass."

'Pair' is used to talk about objects that come in twos: a pair of shoes, a pair of socks, a pair of matching baseball caps. There are also a few individual objects that we conceptualize as pairs because they have two of something: a pair of glasses (2 lenses), a pair of scissors (2 blades), a pair of trousers (2 legs), a pair of pants (2 holes for legs).

'Pair' can also be used to mean two people, but not in the sense of 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend':

"For this activity, I'd like you to work in pairs."
"You look like a right pair of idiots in those matching baseball caps!"

A pear, on the other hand, is a type of fruit, similar to an apple. The pronunciation of 'pear' and 'pair' is the same, which can be exploited with hilarious consequences:

As I went a-walking down Winchester Street,
I saw an old man with no shoes on his feet,
And as I had plenty of money to spare,
I went into a fruit shop and bought him a pear.

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"