Late 60s, early 60s etc

[Tom]

Hi

Could you please give the "left out" details to me? Should I put a small s with every year mentioned or not?

1960s = nineteen sixties
1968 = late sixties
1962 = early sixties
1965=
1922= early twenties
1912= early tens

Tom

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

[Tom]

Many thanks, Amy!

Now I am left with two questions:

1- Could 1964, 1965 and 1966 be called mid sixties?

Should I put a small s with every year mentioned or not? For example, 1967(s???) as late sixties

Tom

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

"The mid sixties" refers to the middle part of the decade generally and doesn't refer to a specific year. So, I'd assume roughly 1964-1966. But it's possible someone might even consider 1963 or 1967 to be included in "the mid sixties".

You cannot add "s" and "the" to 1967. Saying "in the 1960s" includes all of the years that begin 196_. When you write or say all of the years between 1960 and 1969, they all begin the same way: "Nineteen sixty-_" In other words, "the 1960s" gives you a general timeframe and refers to more than one year. 1967 can only refer to one specific year, so you cannot make it plural.

Amy
_________________
Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Conchita]

How would you call the period from around the last decade of one century to the first few years of the next one?

[Yankee]

Hi Conchita

Other than "the turn of the century" I couldn't think of anything --- nothing as the name of a whole decade. I could write it (the 00s) but I had no idea how to say it.

But Wikipedia has some interesting information:

In contrast to the decades from 1920 to 1999, which are called "The Twenties," "The Thirties" and the like, the '00s have had no universally-accepted name. Some refer to the decade as "The Two Thousands", but many find that usage awkward and incorrect for a number of reasons, most notably the fact that, formally, the "Two Thousands" (that is, years whose spoken name begins with the words "two thousand") will last for a thousand years and not just the ten years of the "00" decade. Written in numeral form, the decade can be written either as the "2000s" or as the "'00s". But looking for a name that has the same "feel" as 'The Nineties' or 'The Fifties' has been problematic, especially in the United States.

In the rest of the English-speaking world "The Noughties" and "The Noughts" have come to be the most widely recognized and accepted terms. The term "Noughties" has been adopted by the BBC, and while the term may not be quite universal, there is no other term so widely recognized. Probably the only reason that the term "Noughties" has not been completely accepted world wide is the fact that, in the United States (where usage of "naught" or "nought" to mean 'zero' has never been ubiquitous), there is some confusion by those who assume erroneously that the term has something to do with the adjective "naughty".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000s

Amy
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English