I am currently taking linguistics and am required to tutor a student based on errors within a writing sample she has provided me. Currently, I am developing activities for determining when to use recently vs. lately but upon writing sentences myself I realize as a native speaker I can choose what sounds better to me but i can't put into words why one is the better choice. Any advice?
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1What makes you believe there is anything more than a stylistic difference? This seems to be nothing more than personal preference.– YesheCommented Apr 18, 2017 at 16:14
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my student wrote "one study I read lately states that..." the clear word choice here would be "one study I read recently states that..." just trying to come up with he words that explain the word choice error.– TESOLMariCommented Apr 18, 2017 at 21:21
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1 Answer
Lately is used to describe a repetitive event in the past which hasn't occurred in near past.
I haven't played cricked lately.
Recently is used to denote occurrence of an event in the near past.
I went to the workshop recently.
For more elaborate answer, please refer Difference between "recently" and "lately"
