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The position of "recently" or "lately"

hirashin

Sempai
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8 Apr 2004
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Dear native English speakers,
Which would be used? I believe (a) would be common.
(a) I have seen the movie recently/lately.
(b) Recently/lately, I have seen the movie.
(c) I have recently/lately seen the movie.

I believe British people usually use the word "film" instead of "movie".
Do American people ever use "film" instead of "movie"?

Thanks in advance.
Hirashin
 
I would say I would prefer recently over lately in these sentences. Lately can sound like "in recent days" where the context for the sentence seems to imply one viewing. I would replace any occurrence of "the movie" with "that movie". Also I feel that "saw" instead of "have seen" sounds more natural in these sentences.

Yes we sometimes use "film" normally only when we talk about a "film festival" or a "film maker" etc. If you said film instead of movie though people would know what you mean.
 
I also think recently is more common.

Generally, with a movie, you'd use the simple past rather then the present perfect though, unless someone was challenging you.
i.e..
A: You have to see this movie!
B: I've already seen it!

Film is used in American English more as an adjective or a verb.
He's a film buff.
The movie is currently filming.
 
Recently has a wider, more general meaning; lately is used for repetitive events (continuous?) in the near past, so this sounds fine:
• I have seen a lot of movies lately.

Lately can also be used in the negative about a single event, or in questions:
• I haven't seen a movie lately.
• Have you been to the movies lately?

********

I'm american, but have had a long interest in cinema studies (film studies). I even used the 10-part AFI series in seminars for a number of years along with the companion text and handbook.
American Cinema (TV Series 1995– ) - IMDb
Amazon.com: Study Guide for American Cinema (9780070576056): E. Sikov: Books
Amazon.com: American Cinema/American Culture (9780073386157): John Belton: Books

He's a clip out of part two, The Star:


Look around, most of them are on youtube, about an hour each. Here's the whole thing on film noir:


Point: for me, film and movie are interchangeable.
 
Thanks for the help, nahadef and johnnyG.
I also think recently is more common.

Generally, with a movie, you'd use the simple past rather then the present perfect though, unless someone was challenging you.

So you mean these would be more common?
(d) I saw the movie recently.
(e) Recently, I saw the movie.
(f) I saw the movie recently.

I'm american, but have had a long interest in cinema studies (film studies). I even used the 10-part AFI series in seminars for a number of years along with the companion text and handbook.

Sorry, johnnyG, but I don't get it. You mean you have been teaching about movies?
 
So you mean these would be more common?
(d) I saw the movie recently.
(e) Recently, I saw the movie.
(f) I saw the movie recently.

Yes, recently is far more frequent than lately. It is less restrictive in what it means (how it can be used). So it's more commonly used.
 
Sorry, johnnyG, but I don't get it. You mean you have been teaching about movies?

Yes, about 1997-2007 I taught two different zemi connected to film--one was Disney, the second as above. After that, about half my classes became pharmacy-related, and I gave up the zemi (and film-connected sotsu-ken supervision, too).
 
Thanks for the help, nahadef and johnnyG.
So you mean these would be more common?
(d) I saw the movie recently.
(e) Recently, I saw the movie.
(f) I saw the movie recently.

Yeah. The present perfect has a meaning of expectation, so with the bus or lunch, we expect the bus to come and to eat lunch.

With movies or music, it's not so much expected. I might use it with a friend, when we both love the director/actor/character, and we know we're going to see it. Even then, simple past works fine.
 
Thanks for your personal information, johnnyG. I didn't know you are teaching in college.Do your students study hard?
The present perfect has a meaning of expectation, so with the bus or lunch, we expect the bus to come and to eat lunch.

With movies or music, it's not so much expected. I might use it with a friend, when we both love the director/actor/character, and we know we're going to see it. Even then, simple past works fine.

Thanks for the useful information, nahadef.

In which case would you prefer to use "lately" rather than "recently"?
 
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