Someone asked me this question today and I didn't really know how to answer the question. When something is last, the definite article should precede it because there's only one last place.
7
-
A final course of action, used only when all else has failed: asking them to leave the school should be a last resort [AS MODIFIER]: a– V.V.Commented Jan 21, 2016 at 13:34
-
@V.V. A final course of action becomes the final course of action when applied to a situation. Asking them to leave the school should be the last resort...– CDMCommented Jan 21, 2016 at 13:37
-
1 Getting a last place medal at the school's field day would bum me out. I'm glad they don't award them. 2 I can tell you that a last place I want to be when the world ends is at a strip joint. Another (last place) would be at a McDonald's.– GoDucksCommented Jan 21, 2016 at 15:35
-
What if it's just an idiomatic expression?– David KCommented Jan 21, 2016 at 15:36
-
If your first course of action succeeds, then technically it was your "last resort", since you didn't need any of the other ones...– Darrel HoffmanCommented Jan 21, 2016 at 19:48
|
Show 2 more comments
4 Answers
If you Google the phrase you'll find at least a couple of dictionaries that define "as a last resort" "as the last choice," while others offer "in the last resort" as an alternative phrase. Thus, I believe it is simply an idiom in widespread use, and there is no sound grammatical reason to use the indefinite article.
(ODO)
answered Jan 21, 2016 at 13:46
-
What if I wanna say: 'as a second to last resort' or 'as a second to the last resort' or 'as the second to last resort' or 'as the second to a last resort'. Which one would be better?– hahaCommented Jan 21, 2016 at 14:29
-
1
-
1
-
I'm not sure there is a "second-to-last resort." See Rathony's answer (and Ben's) for more insight. Commented Jan 21, 2016 at 14:51
-
Agreed. Seems like people are overthinking this. It's a colloquialism, grammar does not apply. The last resort would be equally "correct," it's just less popular. Commented Jan 21, 2016 at 19:01
The question said:
When something is last, the definite article should precede it because there's only one last place.
But that's not the case here.
These are hypotheticals, as they have not yet happened. So there can be more than one possible last resort.
If you have a choice of mutually exclusive last resorts, then each is a last resort, while still being last. This will be the case if only one of a choice of last resorts is possible.
- As a last resort you could scuttle the ship by firing the magazine.
- Or you could ram the enemy
- Or you could surrender
But you cannot do all three as they exclude each other, so any will be the last resort if it is used, but whilst under consideration, each is a last resort.
-
No; I think that 'as a last resort' and 'in the last resort' are synonymous, at least nowadays. Commented Jan 21, 2016 at 14:40
-
2+1 This is the case. It is similar to taking about a TV show called Fl&yvv÷¥S. We can talk about a first season, another season, a second season, a last season of Fl&yvv÷¥S before any or all are ever made. There's a first time for everything, and there's a last time for everything.– GoDucksCommented Jan 21, 2016 at 15:05
-
1@GoDucks Can you explain the difference in the Ngram Viewer about the last time and a last time? I don't think you call the first episode, the first season "a first episode" or "a first season". They have different meanings.– user140086Commented Jan 21, 2016 at 15:23
-
2This is the key perspective missing from the question. There can only be one last resort actually chosen but there are many choices of what that last resort might be. Commented Jan 21, 2016 at 18:28
-
2This would be an interesting answer, if people used "a last resort" in this way. Nearly always when someone refers to something as a last resort, he or she means it to be the only last resort. Also, when people refer to specific past actions as the final bail-out act, they use "a last resort" over "the last resort." Ngram– CDMCommented Jan 21, 2016 at 22:43
Adding to Mark Hubbard's great answer, if there were numerous resorts that were used before the last resort, it would be correct to use as the last resort. The noun resort is a mass noun that takes an indefinite article only when it is used to mean:
A course of action that is resorted to: 'her only resort is a private operation. 'Surgery is a last resort, though it sometimes is necessary'
The second example sentence didn't use the definite article the. It is obvious that the noun resort is something that you "turn to and adopt (a course of action, especially an extreme or undesirable one) so as to resolve a difficult situation".
You don't resort to multiple resorts (extreme or undesirable courses of action). You resort to only one resort.
The indefinite article a in the idiom means one single:
As one single last resort, she decided to undergo surgery.
The adjective last usually requires the definite article, but there is an exception when it doesn't mean:
Coming after all others in time or order, final: 'they caught the last bus'.
A resort doesn't come after another resort and is not final. That's why the definite article is not necessary.
If you compare the idiom with as the last choice, the distinction would be clearer. You had multiple choices before you take the last choice, but you didn't have multiple resorts before you take a last resort.
Note: This is a broadly used idiom and sometimes an idiom can't be explained using a grammatical rule or dictionary definition. As some commented, it is as idiomatic as in the last resort and as the last resort and why one idiom uses a and the other the is difficult to explain.
Even thought the linked Ngram Viewer for "suicide as a last resort" and "suicide as the last resort" shows only "suicide as a last resort", if you Google them, you get 12,800 hits for the former and 28,000 hits for the latter.
[Oxford Online Dictionary]
-
Could you please answer my question in Mark Hubbard's answer's comments then?– hahaCommented Jan 21, 2016 at 14:41
-
1@haha I don't think you take two resorts as the noun clearly implies the choice that you have to take in an extremely difficult situation where you don't have any other choice but to take a last resort. That's why as a last resort became such an idiom, I think.– user140086Commented Jan 21, 2016 at 14:45
"Last resort" refers to a course of action taken when all others fail or no others are available. "Last" in this circumstance refers to something along the lines of "this will definitely work, but may have bad side-effects," "if this doesn't work, nothing will," or "once we try this, we won't be able to try anything else." It implies a lack of desirability in the option. "Last resort" thus doesn't refer to a particular action, but a class of actions. Multiple last resorts for a single problem can exist.
