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Mar 28, 2024 · The choice between using “ in the past few years ” or “ over the past few years ” allows you to paint a more precise picture of the events, periods, or experiences you’re discussing. “ In the past few years ” suggests discrete events or instances that do not occur consistently. “ Over the past few years ” often describes a ...
Jun 13, 2014 · They're both valid, and there's no real difference in meaning. But arguably in emphasizes that for the past few years you've been doing something you weren't doing before that, whereas over emphasizes that you've been doing it from some point in time a few years ago, right up to the present moment (and may well continue doing it into the future).
Examples: "20% of Americans have changed jobs in the past 3 years" versus, "10% of Americans have been unemployed for over a year". (Not real statistics, just grammar examples.) "Over [time period]" is generally used when you are talking about a trend, like here. "Our budget has increased over the past 3 years." It can be used for on-going events.
- “In The Past Few Years” Or “Over The Past Few Years”?
- In The Past Few Years
- Over The Past Few Years
- Which Is Used The most?
- Final Thoughts
Both “in the past few years” and “over the past few years” are grammatically correct and valid expressions. The differences lie in how you would use them. The former implies several individual incidents in the past few years, the latter implies a continuous process occurring during the last few years. They are often used interchangeably, as these s...
“In the past few years” is the perfect expression to talk about one or more incidents that have occurred to you or that you have been involved in, during recent times. You may use it freely in several contexts, and it’s a very useful expression. Using “in the past few years”, you’re talking about individual events that don’t constitute part of a la...
“Over the past few years” is an expression that is used to talk about several incidents that have occurred in recent years. You use “over the past few years” specifically talking about events that continue from each other. When you have an ongoing process of events, you can use “over the past few years” to reflect how that process has come along. T...
According to data compiled by the Google Ngram Viewer, “over the past few years” holds a small but significant lead over “in the past few years”, as of information from the year 2019. Analyzing the data is incredibly interesting, because it showcases that from the year 1900 to the year 1986, “in the past few years” was the more popular option. Howe...
“In the past few years” and “over the past few years” are extremely similar expressions. While the former refers to individual incidents and the latter refers to a continuous process, they can very much be interchangeable with each other, depending on what the context is.
Oct 13, 2010 · A lot of people now accept that last and past can be used interchangeably in certain contexts: These last few months have been difficult. These past few months have been difficult. However, traditional grammarians claim you should never use last when you mean past since last is final as opposed to just gone by. These last few months have been ...
Mar 17, 2009 · It means, specifically, that several years have gone past (as in they are over, complete, in the past). I know people seem to use the expressions "last few years" and "past few years" interchangeably, but that doesn't mean they are the same thing. M.
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Feb 29, 2012 · 2. I don't think it's a matter of correctness. Both might be grammatical, but "in recent years" is an established idiom, while "in the recent years" isn't. That's why the first sounds more "natural" - it's not matter of grammar, but of popularity and accepted usage. Share.
