noun
1 period of 12 months; period from January till December
ADJECTIVE
▪ last , past
▪
The chart shows our performance over the past ~.
▪ past , preceding , previous , recent
▪
The event has not proved popular in past ~s.
▪
They had met once the previous ~.
▪ current
▪ given , single
▪
The death rate in any given ~.
▪
I paint the house every single ~.
▪ coming , ensuing , following , future , next , subsequent
▪
We have high hopes for the coming ~.
▪
She died the following ~.
▪
We aim to do even better in future ~s.
▪ consecutive , straight , successive
▪
She won the race for the third successive ~.
▪ alternate
▪ new
▪
We're going skiing early in the new ~.
▪ final ( esp. BrE )
▪
final-year university students
▪ entire , full , whole
▪ long , short
▪
We worked for five long ~s on this project.
▪ 20-odd , 30-odd , etc.
▪
I visited Morocco 20-odd ~s ago.
▪ banner ( AmE ), golden , good , great , happy , profitable
▪
the golden ~s of motoring
▪ big , memorable , momentous
▪ peak , record
▪
a peak ~ for exports
▪ bad , hard , lean , poor , tough
▪ calendar
▪ leap
▪ academic , school
▪ freshman , junior , senior , sophomore ( all in the US )
▪ gap ( BrE )
▪
He was on a gap ~ before going to university.
▪ financial ( BrE ), fiscal ( esp. AmE ), tax ( esp. BrE )
▪ election
▪ sabbatical
▪
He spent his sabbatical ~ doing research in Moscow.
▪ rookie ( AmE , sports )
▪ light ( often figurative )
▪
The new range puts us light ~s ahead of the competition.
VERB + YEAR
▪ spend
▪
He spent last ~ trying to get a new job.
▪ take
▪
It took him ten ~s to qualify as a vet.
▪ celebrate
▪
Next month, they celebrate fifty ~s of marriage.
▪ put on , take off
▪
His wife's death has put ~s on him ( = made him look/feel much older ).
▪
Careful make-up and styling can take ~s off you( = make you look much younger ).
YEAR + VERB
▪ begin , start
▪ end , finish
▪ elapse , go by , pass
▪
A ~ elapsed before I heard from him again.
▪
The last ~ went by in flash.
▪ run from … to …
▪
The academic ~ runs from October to June.
▪ see sth
▪
That ~ saw the explosion of the Internet.
▪ mark sth
▪
This ~ marks the 10th anniversary of her death.
PREPOSITION
▪ by the ~ …
▪
The reforms will be fully implemented by the ~ 2007.
▪ during the ~ , over the ~
▪
during the next academic ~
▪
Over the past few ~s, we've made significant changes.
▪
Over the past several ~s, we've made significant changes. ( AmE )
▪ for a/the ~
▪
profit for the current ~ to December 31
▪
We lived there for ten ~s.
▪ in a ~
▪
I hope to retire in a ~/in a year's time.
▪ in a/the ~
▪
in the next tax ~
▪
Britain was invaded in the ~ 1066.
▪
In the past few ~s, she has become one of our top-selling authors.
▪ in ~s
▪
It's the first time we've met in ~s ( = for many years) ).
▪ over a ~ , under a ~
▪
We've been friends for over twenty ~s.
▪ per ~
▪
Over 10 000 people per ~ are injured in this type of accident.
▪ throughout the ~
▪
The global economy means that all types of fruit and vegetables are available throughout the ~.
▪ ~s between … and … , ~s from … to …
▪
the boom ~s from 1993 to 2000
▪ ~ of
▪
The book represents three ~s of hard work.
▪
That was in the ~ of the great flood.
PHRASES
▪ after all these ~s , after all those ~s
▪
They're still friends after all these ~s.
▪ all ~ long
▪
I've been waiting for this moment all ~ long.
▪ all the ~ round ( BrE ), all ~ round
▪
The city tour runs all the ~ round.
▪ the beginning of the ~ , the end of the ~ , the middle of the ~ , the start of the ~
▪ be six, etc. ~s of age , be six, etc. ~s old
▪
She's only ten ~s old.
▪ early in the ~ , late in the ~
▪ a time of ~
▪
It's usually much colder at this time of ~.
▪ the turn of the ~ ( esp. BrE )
▪
The team has suffered a loss of form since the turn of the ~.
2 years period of time
ADJECTIVE
▪ intervening
▪
He soon realized that a lot had changed in the intervening ~s.
▪ early , later
▪
the early ~s of the 21st century
▪
In his later ~s, he drifted away from politics.
▪ college , high-school (both AmE )
▪ inter-war , post-war , pre-war , war
▪
The children spent the war ~s with relatives.
▪ childhood , early , formative , teen , teenage , tender
▪
She was born in Spain but spent her formative ~s in Italy.
▪
children of tender ~s
VERB + YEARS
▪ spend
▪
His early ~s were spent in San Francisco.
PREPOSITION
▪ during the … ~s
▪
It happened during the Clinton ~s.