"after" vs "later"

[LeTyan]

Hi,

"After 2 hours, the train will arrive."
" The train arrives 2 hours later."
"The train arrives in 2 hours."

What are the differences among them?

Thank you!

 

[MikeNewYork]

The second and third have the same meaning for me.

The first one is not very natural. Usually I would say: "The train will arrive in 2 hours."

 

[Tdol]

I don't know if it's BrE, but only the third sounds natural to me.

 

[MikeNewYork]

The only reason I found 2 acceptable is if it were in a narrative story in the present tense.

 

[Tdol]

I get you.

 

[LeTyan]

The second and third have the same meaning for me.

The first one is not very natural. Usually I would say: "The train will arrive in 2 hours."

So is the reason that you found the first one unnatural because "after" was used in future tense?
What about " Something happened, blablablahhh after 2 hours, the train arrived."? Is this natural?

 

[MikeNewYork]

There really isn't anything wrong with using "after" and the future tense. I think the part of the sentence that is unnatural for me is the use of "after" plus a specific time period.

After I finish washing the car, I will cut the grass. :tick:
After two hours, I will cut the grass. :cross:

There may be other contexts in which this will work, but the original train sentence is not good.

 

[LeTyan]

There really isn't anything wrong with using "after" and the future tense. I think the part of the sentence that is unnatural for me is the use of "after" plus a specific time period.

After I finish washing the car, I will cut the grass. :tick:
After two hours, I will cut the grass. :cross:

There may be other contexts in which this will work, but the original train sentence is not good.

Lately I found a sentence on Corpus that seems to counter your argument that one should not put a certain period of time after the word "after".
Now I just feel so lost...


"After an hour I gave up speaking to Ms. Kalleigh's neighbors."

The above is a sentence from corpus. And also, I remember hearing "After a while, blablablah......"
What is going on?

 

[LeTyan]

And also, how about "2 hours later, the train arrived". Is this natural?

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes.

 

[LeTyan]

Yes.

And please take a look at Post #8 in this thread.

 

[MikeNewYork]

<<<"After an hour I gave up speaking to Ms. Kalleigh's neighbors."

The above is a sentence from corpus. And also, I remember hearing "After a while, blablablah......"
What is going on?>>>

We were discussing the future tense. This sentence that you found is in the past tense.