This or last?

[meobeo]

I've been thinking about this for some time now and decided that it's best to consult somebody. Now we're in August, is it possilbe to talk about the January of this year (or any month of this year that has passed for that matter) as "last January"? A lot of people would use "this" to refer to the January of this year but doesn't "last" mean "most recent"? While it's true that this year's January is the most recent January, is it OK to say "last January" to refer to it?
I have the same problem with the days in a week. Today is Thursday, so is Monday this week "this Monday" or "last Monday"? Thanks for any explanation.

 

[SoothingDave]

Not a teacher.

"Last January" certainly refers to the most recent such month in history. "Last January" means January 2010. "Last September" means September 2009.

I can't think of a situation where "this" refers to the past. I would not say "this Monday" to mean 3 days ago. I would say "last Monday." Or maybe "Monday this week" or "the past Monday."

"This Monday" refers to the future.

There is some potential for ambiguity in saying "next Sunday," for example, on Friday. You could mean next week's Sunday, or the day 2 days from now.

On Monday, "next Sunday" would mean 6 days away. But "this Sunday" always refers to the first upcoming Sunday.

 

[meobeo]

I can't think of a situation where "this" refers to the past.

There is at least one. You always refer to the morning of today as "this morning" even though it may be the afternoon already. "Last morning" always means the morning of yesterday. Am I correct?

 

[SoothingDave]

Yes, but I meant when talking about days or months. I would not say "this Wednesday" to mean yesterday, and i wouldn't say "this July" to mean the month just past. "This past July" or "This past Wednesday," yes. But not just "this Wednesday."

 

[emsr2d2]

There is at least one. You always refer to the morning of today as "this morning" even though it may be the afternoon already. "Last morning" always means the morning of yesterday. Am I correct?

We don't say "last morning".

Yesterday morning.
Yesterday afternoon.
Yesterday evening.
Last night.

Don't ask me why!!!