Tomorrow is my last day vs. Yesterday is my last day

No.

John

Hi,

Tomorrow will be / is my last day of work - Both are fine. If it's a fact, then either will do.

Yesterday is my last day of work - Wrong. You are referring to the past, and therefore you

should use was only.

Regards

But 'yesterday is my last day' is a fact just like 'tomorrow is my last day'. 'Yesterday was my last day' sounds like a personal recount.

Would you say the 'is' in 'tomorrow is my last day' refers to the present i.e. talking about the present fact or is it just a case of the present tense being used for a scheduled future event?

Hi,

No. Yesterday refers to the past whereas is primarily refers to the present or to the immediate future.

For example:

I will go to my friend's home tomorrow.

I am going to my friend's home tomorrow.

Yesterday I was going down the street.

Yesterday I went down the street.

Regards

You can use simple present for the future.

You cannot use simple present for the past.

We leave tomorrow at dawn.

We will leave tomorrow at dawn.

We are leaving tomorrow at dawn.

We are going to leave tomorrow at dawn.

-- All of these are essentially the same, and all are acceptable.

You cannot use ANY of these forms for the past.

I understand these, but they each have a pronoun and not a day/time as a subject. I was just thinking along the line of factual statements like:

This apple is red.

Tomorrow is Jessie's birthday.

(simple present for present fact and not for future)

and thus thought why 'Yesterday is my last day of work' wasn't possible. It's still a present fact after all.

In your first post, the one and only question you asked was: "Can we say: 'Yesterday is my last day of work' instead of ' Yesterday was my last day of work'?"

Everyone gave you the same answer - no.

Have I misunderstood, or are you saying that the correct answer (Yesterday was my last day of work) is "still a present fact after all." What does this mean?

John

Sorry to have confused you. I was looking at things from another perspective. We use simple present tense for truths/facts.

Thus,

The apple is red. (a factual statement involving simple present)

Similarly,

(Imagine yourself looking at the calender and pointing at a date saying) Tomorrow is a holiday. (Factual statement like the above)

So

Hi,

'Yesterday is a holiday' is incorrect semantically and doesn't make sense.

It's like saying 'Yesterday I'm going to the restaurant' instead of 'Yesterday I was going to the restaurant'.

It was a fact in the past; now it isn't.

Regards

ceph,

ceph'Yesterday was a holiday' sounds and is correct but it's more like recounting the past. As you know grammar can be illogical.

You have been given clear explanations by the natives that "Yesterday is a holiday", is incorrect. If you are so determined that it is correct, please f