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What is correct “the last” or “last”?

I haven’t read any book since “the last Saturday”/“last Saturday”.

I read an article that we use last before a specific past time reference such as Monday. So day in a week are never preceded by THE LAST but just by LAST apart from if it is a specific reference in time e.g. It was on TV the last Monday in November.?

Thank you

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  • “Last Saturday”, not “the last”.... “You use last in expressions such as last Friday, last night, and last year to refer, for example,to the most recent Friday, night, or year. ——- I got married last July. He never made it home at all last night. It is not surprising they did so badly in last year's elections.” collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/last
    – user 66974
    Jan 20, 2020 at 21:54

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"last Saturday" means the previous Saturday, the one before we are talking.

"the last Saturday" means the final Saturday in a period of time.

So "The last Saturday in November" is perfectly correct. So is "I haven't read a book since last Saturday"; but also "I haven't read a book since the last Saturday of November".

"the last Saturday" without a qualification would mean the final Saturday of all time, for example if the Earth was being destroyed in less than a week.

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  • It could also mean the last Saturday of some agreed-upon period of time, although "that last Saturday" would get the idea over better.
    – Spencer
    Jan 21, 2020 at 0:15
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    Right, for example: "My last semester in college I studied every weekend, but the last Saturday I went to the bar with my friends.". Here the context sets the period of time, and "last Saturday" is the last one in the contextually defined period.
    – Fraser Orr
    Jan 21, 2020 at 3:25

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