[General] Smoking ban went into effect this April.

[LiuJing]

If we want to describe a fact that something went into effect two months ago, say April 1, can we say 'it went into effect this April'?

It sounds to me I should say 'last April' or 'April this year'. Am I right?

 

[bertietheblue]

If we want to describe a fact that something went into effect two months ago, say April 1, can we say 'it went into effect this April'?

It sounds to me I should say 'last April' or 'April this year'. Am I right?

Funnily enough, I today started a 'when is 'next Thursday'?' thread in the General Discussion forum because I think 'next' and 'last' are not always clear.

Here, 'this April' is fine. 'Last April' to me means 'April last year' if I'm talking in May but if I'm talking in December, what would people understand by 'last April'?

I hope it's OK to bring in my thread and kind of merge the two around the next/last question. I use days, but the principle is the same: if I'm talking on Sunday, what would people understand by 'next Thursday' and would they understand the same on Monday?

 

[Tdol]

If the ban is still in force, I think I would say 'came into effect'.

 

[bertietheblue]

If the ban is still in force, I think I would say 'came into effect'.

Yeah, you would in fact say 'came into effect' and not 'went into effect' whether or not it was still in force since this is the correct phrase, although if the ban was no longer in effect, you would have to mention this at some point; otherwise the reader would get the impression that it was still effective:

'The smoking ban came into effect in April 2007 ... The ban was lifted in December 2009 following ...'

 

[bertietheblue]

Yeah, you would in fact say 'came into effect' and not 'went into effect' whether or not it was still in force since this is the correct phrase, although if the ban was no longer in effect, you would have to mention this at some point; otherwise the reader would get the impression that it was still effective:

'The smoking ban came into effect in April 2007 ... The ban was lifted in December 2009 following ...'

I'll revise that: you can say 'went into effect' although with legislation you normally say 'came into effect'. I suppose I corrected this because I proofread legal documents, and have done so for many years, and it's always 'came into effect' whether the law is in effect now or not.

 

[Tdol]

I would always have gone for 'come into effect', but I searched and found legal texts and reports with 'went' in both American and British English, which surprised me.

 

[bertietheblue]

I would always have gone for 'come into effect', but I searched and found legal texts and reports with 'went' in both American and British English, which surprised me.

That's exactly what I did! I thought I'd better google 'went into effect' before someone caught me out!