re: Which Day Is The Next Sunday When Today Is Wednesday? page 2

healerIt is very confusing. Some of them are as follows. http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/26815-next-sunday.html

The hypothetical scenario given in this thread is:

YoshioSuppose it is September 1st, Friday. If you say "Let's meet next Sunday", does it mean you will meet two days later, that is September 3rd? Or 10th?

It's the foreign students who differ with me. The two native speakers, "Philly" and "river", tend to see it my way:

PhillyI myself would tend toward September 10th [for next Sunday] because September 3rd could also be "the day after tomorrow" or "this coming Sunday" or simply "on Sunday".

riverIt is confusing, but technically it's "this" and "next": This Sunday is the 3rd; next Sunday is the 10th.

Though the advice that Philly gives to "always clarify" is good advice indeed.

healer

The hypothetical scenario given in that thread is:

Gavin...today is Monday the 10th. If I talk about 'next Sunday' what date would you think I'm talking about? The 16th - 'the next Sunday' or the 23rd - 'the Sunday after next'

The "best answer" chosen, given by a native speaker, partly differs with me:

GrahamH"Next Sunday" is definitely the 16th if you are speaking on Monday; the 23rd would be "the Sunday after next". By the time you gwet to Wednesday or Thursday, however, you would probably have to specify whether you meant the 16th or the 23rd. By Saturday, "Next Sunday" would definitely be the 23rd...

In hindsight I mostly agree with him. He's saying that earlier in the week, "next Sunday" and "this (coming) Sunday" are synonymous, because "next" is somewhat ambiguous that many days away. "This Sunday" should always be understood by whether you're using a past or present tense verb. I still hold to my original answer in everyday use among my friends and family, especially where context aids in understanding, but I agree that it's always a good idea to clarify what "next" means. So to your next question:

healerWould it be better to say Friday week or Sunday week instead of next Friday or next Sunday where the former is clearer or more definite and leaves no room for doubt?

No, you can't say it exactly like that, but you could say "Friday of this week" or "Friday of next week" and "Sunday of this week" or "Sunday of next week". But for "Sunday" this requires knowing whether your English speaking country starts the week with Sunday (America) or ends the week with Sunday (most other countries). Sunday of this week in Australia would probably be the same date as Sunday of next week in America.

So confusing! I hope I haven't left you even more confused.

"GrahamH: By the time you get to Wednesday or Thursday, however, you would probably have to specify whether you meant the 16th or the 23rd."
The above statement by GrahamH is no good in that it conveys no hard and fast rule and makes communication more susceptible to doubt.

I often heard "Friday week" or "Sunday week" which I was led to believe to mean the Friday or Sunday after the coming Friday or Sunday. I am surprised you said we can't say that.

It sounds like when you say next Friday or next Sunday you simply mean Friday or Sunday of next week, so not necessarily more than 7 days later. Say for example in your case where Sunday is the first day of the week and today is Monday, then you would have to say next Sunday when you are referring to this coming Sunday. Whereas in my case where Monday is the first day of the week, then I would have to say this Sunday not next Sunday. It would be very confusing if I have to communicate with an American over a distant phone call or over the Internet or if he or she is on holiday here.

Thanks for your kind encouragement. we should strive to be as perfect as possible though no one or nothing can be perfect.

I was born and raised in the USA. In my experience, some people say "this Sunday" for the very NEXT Sunday, in LESS than a week, while others say "next Sunday" for the SECOND NEXT Sunday, in MORE than a week. I have always practiced "NEXT Sunday" means NEXT, that is LESS than a week, and "THIS Sunday" means NEXT, because it is THIS COMING Sunday - therefore, in my usage, THIS and NEXT mean the same day. BUT because some really mean "Sunday NEXT WEEK" when they say "next Sunday" or "Sunday next", I have to clarify which day they mean if THEY said it, or which day I mean if I said it, to identify the day in LESS than or MORE than one week.. In my experience, there IS NO rule that clearly defines the proper usage. I wish there was. But in my mind, logically, THIS and NEXT are the same day. To me, it is illogical to mean MORE than a week calling it "NEXT" when it is the SECOND NEXT Sunday.

The context of this, next and last is the current week. So lets say it is Jan 3rd and it is a wednesday. "Next Sunday" is the next week's Sunday and it would be Jan 7th (since the week starts on a Sunday). "This Sunday" is this week's Sunday and it would be Dec 31. "Last Sunday" is last week's Sunday and it would Dec 24th.

Sound confusing? We actually utilize similar language when referring to times of the day and people tend to have no confusions. For example if it is 3pm and I said "this breakfast". I don't I know anyone who would interpret that to mean tomorrow's breakfast because the context is the current day and what's meant is "this day's breakfast". If I said "this evening" then it would be also clear that it is this day's evening. So "this" can refer to something in the past or in the future and in the context for times "this" refers to the current day and the context for a day it is the current week and this is also scalable and is the same for months and years and so on.

Where some confusion comes in is that Sunday is both the start of a new week and the end of a weekend and "this Sunday" may refer to "this week's Sunday" or "this weekend's Sunday" which is a world of difference and this, next and last is sometimes difficult to determine. So for the original Wed 3rd if "this Sunday" refers to the weekend it would be Jan 7th but if it refers to a Week it would be Dec 31. This is why it gets confusing and people get it wrong all the time. Context however can be used to help clear things up. If the speaker is using past tense verbs with "this" then it should be clear they are referring to a day that has past for example "We met this Sunday" (we met this week's Sunday). If they use future tense verbs then it should be clear it will happen in the future "We'll meet this Sunday" (We'll meet this weekend's Sunday).

If there is confusion it is best to ask for clarity and I find the best way is to use "week" or "weekend" identifiers. For example "Speaker 1: We'll meet next Sunday. Speaker 2. "This weekend?" Speaker 1: "No, next weekend.".

There still can be confusion and there is a lot of contexts that overlap that sometimes need to be cleared up to know what the speaker is talking about. For example: "Next Christmas" should refer to "Next year's Christmas" but if it is January and someone says "Next Christmas" they probably mean "next winter's Christmas" or "this year's Christmas" so if you're confused try and ask to clear it up in a way that identifies the context.

I wlk say what you quoted but some people still confused. Maybe maybe just said the date instead!

Outlook defaults w Mon bc it's mainly an office tool and the WORK WEEK (if u will ) starts on Monday

Because this is a question which concerns
time variances between weeks and days
of present,future,and past.The clarity will
always lie within the context of which you the
person are speaking.Here there is no
ambiguity or confusion.It is simply
whichever tense you mean to say.