In Recent Years vs In The Recent Years - Easy Usage Guide ...

The correct spelling is “in recent years,” though both forms are correct. “In the recent years” is rarely used. The article “the” is seen as a redundancy and ... SkiptocontentThedifferencesbetweenthephrases“inrecentyears”and“intherecentyears”areimportant.Youshouldknowhowtousethemandwhichoneisthebetterphrase(aswellaswhatsomebetteralternativesmightbe).Inthisarticle,we’lltalkyouthroughhowtousethem.TableofContentsShouldYouUse“InRecentYears”Or“InTheRecentYears”?Is“InRecentYears”Or“InTheRecentYears”UsedTheMost?DoesTheSameRuleApplyTo“OverRecentYears”And“OverTheRecentYears”?IsIt“InRecentYears”Or“ForRecentYears”?WhatDoes“Recent”Mean?ExamplesOfHowToUse“InRecentYears”Or“InTheRecentYears”InRecentYears–SynonymsWhichOtherPrepositionsCanBeUsedBefore“RecentYears”?ThroughRecentYearsOverRecentYearsWithRecentYearsWhichTenseIsUsedWith“RecentYears”?Is“ForTheLastTenYears”Or“InTheRecentTenYears”MostAppropriate?ShouldYouUse“InRecentYears”Or“InTheRecentYears”?Thecorrectspellingis“inrecentyears,”thoughbothformsarecorrect.“Intherecentyears”israrelyused.Thearticle“the”isseenasaredundancyandmanynativespeakersthinkitlooksclunky.It’sbesttosticktothestreamline“inrecentyears.Wheneverwewanttotalkabouthowthingsmighthavedevelopedinthepast,wemightbeinclinedtotryusingthephrase“inrecentyears.”It’sagoodphrasethatworkswelltoconveythemeaning,thoughit’snotalwaysthemostpopularchoice.Laterinthearticle,we’lltalkaboutwhatsomebetterchoicesmightbe.However,it’salsoquitegoodtorememberthat“inrecentyears”isalwaysmorecommonthan“intherecentyears”(whichisrarely,ifever,usedinEnglish).Watchthevideo:Only1percentof... xToviewthisvideopleaseenableJavaScript,andconsiderupgradingtoa webbrowserthat supportsHTML5videoWatchthevideo:Only1percentofourvisitorsgetthese3grammarquestionsright...Is“InRecentYears”Or“InTheRecentYears”UsedTheMost?Let’sgoovertheusageofthetwophrasestohelpyouunderstandwhatweweresayinginthesectionbefore.Asyoucanseefromthisgraph,“inrecentyears”isthemostpopularchoice.Infact,inthelast200years,it’stheonlychoiceofthetwothat’smanagedtocomeoffthebaseline.Thislargedifferenceinuseshowsyoujusthowimportantitistouse“inrecentyears”asthecorrectsaying.Veryfewnativespeakersuse“intherecentyears.”Whilewetypicallyspecifyournounswitharticleslike“the,”inthiscase,it’sirrelevant.There’snodifferencebetweensayingthefollowing:Inrecentyears(intheyearsthatcameashortwhileago)Intherecentyears(intheyearsthatcameashortwhileago)Wecan’tgetanymorespecificthanthat,whichiswhy“the”isconsideredaredundancyandoftenleftout.DoesTheSameRuleApplyTo“OverRecentYears”And“OverTheRecentYears”?Thereisanothergroupofsayings,whichare“overrecentyears”and“overtherecentyears.”Theyuseadifferentpreposition,buttheideaisstillthesame.Let’sseewhetherthesameruleapplieshere.Accordingtothisgraph,“overrecentyears”isstillthemostpopularchoice.However,“overtherecentyears”isstillusedmuchmoreoftenthan“intherecentyears”waspreviously.Fromthis,wecanseethatthesameruledoesn’tapplyinthesameway.Englishspeakersaremorecomfortableusingthephrase“overtherecentyears”comparedto“intherecentyears.”Ofcourse,thisisn’talwaysthecasesince“overrecentyears”isstillwidelyconsideredthemorepopularofthetwochoices.Still,it’sinterestingtoseethisgraphnotfollowingthesamerules,eventhoughtheybothhavethesamebasewordsandonlytheprepositionisdifferent.IsIt“InRecentYears”Or“ForRecentYears”?Wheneverwewanttousethesaying,it’simportantweknowwhichprepositionweuse.Thereareacoupleofoptions,buteachonecomeswithadifferentgroupofrulesthatmustbeabidedby.“Inrecentyears”isthecorrectformandtheonlyonethatshouldbeusedofthetwo.“Forrecentyears”usesthewrongadjective(“recent”)withthepreposition“for.”Ifwewanttouse“for”correctlyinthissense,thenwe’llwanttouseoneofthefollowing:ForyearsForthelastfewyearsWecan’tusetheadjective“recent”with“for”becausethetwowordsdon’tworktogether.However,wecanbemoregeneral,likeinthefirstexample.Wecanalsogetmorespecificbutinsteaddescribetheyearsbytheirrelativequantity(“thelastfew”)ratherthanageneralquantity(“recent”).WhatDoes“Recent”Mean?Whilealloftheseexplanationsaregreattohelpyoulearnallaboutthephrases,theywon’tbemuchgoodifyoudon’tknowwhatthewordsmean.Ofcourse,“recent”isthebiggestfactorinthisphrase,sothat’stheonewe’regoingtopayattentionto.AccordingtoTheCambridgeDictionary,“recent”means“happeningorstartingfromashorttimeago.”Thatmeanswheneverwetalkabouttheword“recent,”we’rereferringtosomethingthat’shappenedinthepast,thoughnotallthatfaraway.Generally,we’lltalkaboutthingsthathaveonlyhappenedinthelastfewyears.“Inrecentyears”meansthatwe’retalkingaboutthefewyearsthatcomebeforethecurrentone.Ofcourse,thisvalueisrelative,as“few”couldmeanfivetotenifwe’retalkingaboutsomeone’slifetime,butitcouldmeanonethousandormoreifwe’retalkingaboutthedevelopmentofhistory.It’simportanttorememberthat“recent”isageneralquantifiableterm.Wemustalwayskeepitrelativewithwhateverwe’retalkingabout.Isthisarecentphoto?(Thismeansthephotocouldbewithinthelastfewdays,butitcouldalsomeanthelastfewyears,dependingonthecontext).Inrecentyears,thingshavegonewrong.(Thismeanswecouldbetalkingaboutthelastfewyearsofourlifeorthelasthundredyearsoftheearth’slifewithalltheproblemsthatoccurredinit.Contextisimportantforrelativequantities).ExamplesOfHowToUse“InRecentYears”Or“InTheRecentYears”Let’sgothroughsomeexamplestoseehowusing“inrecentyears”or“intherecentyears”worksinasentence.Since“inrecentyears”ismorecommon,we’llstickmostlytothat.Inrecentyears,it’sbeenhardertobuyahome.Inrecentyears,inflationrateshaveincreaseddramatically.Inrecentyears,myhairhasgreyed,andmyeyeshavesunk.It’sbeendifficulttodealwiththeincreasingpressureinrecentyears.Inrecentyears,theworldhasbeenadangerousplace.Inrecentyears,alotofnewtechnologyhascomeout.We’vebeenabletoexploremoretodowithspaceinrecentyears.There’salotthat’sbeenkeptunderwrapsinrecentyears.Intherecentyears,peoplehavealwaysstayedclosetotheirfamilies.Intherecentyears,mankindhasmademanymistakes.Inrecentyears,youcan’tgofarwithoutsomekindofpoliticalagendabeingplasteredoverawall.InRecentYears–SynonymsIt’stimetolookoversomesynonymsandalternativesto“inrecentyears”asaphrase.You’llwanttolearnmostofthesetouseinplaceofthesayingbecausealotofnativespeakersstayawayfromusing“inrecentyears.”RecentlyThisistheeasiestsynonymandalternativefortheword.Itremovestheneedtouse“in”and“years”inthesentence.Bysimplysaying“recently,”we’restilltalkingabouttheyearsthatcameashortwhileago,butwe’reusingitinamuchbetterway.OverthelastfewyearsGenerally,“recent”isanoutdatedsayingthatmanynativespeakerssteerclearofusing.Forthisreason,wehavephraseslike“overthelastfewyears.”Themeaningisidentical;we’rejustusingaslightlydifferentcombinationofwordstogetthere.AsoflateThisisagoodalternativethatworksinformalsituations.Youcanspecifythatyou’retalkingaboutyearslaterinthewrittenpiece,but“asoflate”isagoodwaytosay“recently”or“inrecentyears”inamoreformalsituation.WhichOtherPrepositionsCanBeUsedBefore“RecentYears”?Thereareafewotherprepositionsthatcangobeforerecentyears,andtheyareasfollows:ThroughRecentYears“Throughrecentyears”meansyou’retalkingaboutthingsthathappenedduringthelastfewyears.OverRecentYears“Overrecentyears”meansyou’retalkingaboutthingsthathappenedoverthecourseoftheyearsyou’rementioning.WithRecentYears“Withrecentyears”meansyou’retalkingaboutthechangesthathavecomeaboutfrompreviousyears.WhichTenseIsUsedWith“RecentYears”?Whenwe’retalkingabout“recentyears,”we’realwayswritinginthepasttense.Thisisbecausewe’retalkingaboutthingsthathavehappenedashortwhileagoratherthananythingthat’shappenedinthepresent.Is“ForTheLastTenYears”Or“InTheRecentTenYears”MostAppropriate?Ifyouwanttobemorespecificaboutthenumberofyearsyou’retalkingabout,it’sgoodtoknowwhichphraseisbesttouse.“Forthelasttenyears”ismostappropriate,and“intherecenttenyears”iswrong.“For”istheprepositionweusewhenwewanttobemorespecificandactuallynumbertheyears(orotherthings)we’retalkingabout.Therearenocaseswhere“intherecenttenyears”iscorrecttowrite.You’llwanttomakesureyousticktowriting“forthelasttenyears”totalkaboutthespecificnumberofyears.Youmightalsolike:“InTheLastYear”vs.“LastYear”vs.“InThePastYear”(+PrepositionGuide)Postnavigation←PreviousPostNextPost→RelatedPostsreportthisadAboutUsWeareonamissiontohelpyoubecomebetteratEnglish.AsagroupofexperiencedEnglishwriters,weenjoysharingourknowledgeinalanguagethateveryoneisabletounderstand.reportthisadRecentPosts“NoOneKnow”or“NoOneKnows”–CorrectVersion(Examples)10BetterWaysToSay“AreWeStillMeetingTomorrow”“InTheStreet”or“OnTheStreet”–DifferenceExplained“LiveIn”,“LiveAt”,or“LiveOn”–FullPrepositionGuide 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