previous day or last day

[ademoglu]

Hello,

http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/previous
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/last_1

Although I looked up in the above dictionaries to understand the difference between 'the previous year/day or last year/day', I could not get it. Could you please tell me what the difference in meaning between the two. For example:

- I met them the previous night.
- I met them the last night.

- I met them the previous day.
- I met them the last day.

Thanks.

 

[Barb_D]

Today is Thursday. You met someone on Wednesday. You say "I met them last night." You could also say "I met them yesterday."


Today is Thursday. You met someone on Monday. You say, referring to an earlier time, "I was happy to see them on Tuesday because I had just met them the previous day/night."

In other words, you use "previous" to refer to the day before only when you have since moved forward in time.


Another use would be if you were somewhere for a certain period of time, let's say five days. You met them on the fifth day. You say after your trip "I wish I had met them earlier. I did not meet them until the last day."