"Lately" is not "recently."

Open Forum in English
1

Recently, I realized that “lately” is not “recently.” “Lately” is not used with the simple past tense.
Lately, I have accustomed to the interface of Kindle fire HD.
I was recently surprised at the popularity of the tablet.

2

To me, the two words mean the same thing. Probably we do not use them in the same ways.

  1. Lately, I have become accustomed to the interface of the Kindle Fire HD.

  2. Recently, I have become accustomed to the interface of the Kindle Fire HD.

  3. I was recently surprised at the popularity of the tablet.

  4. I was lately surprised at the popularity of the tablet.

The fourth sentence sounds a bit strange to me. I don’t know if one would use ‘lately’ in the middle of a sentence. One might say

  1. Lately, I was surprised at the popularity of the tablet.
3

Thank you for the information, ColinPhilipJohnstone.

4

Seeing that grammar rules reflect language considered correct at the time the rules were established and that we have quite recently seen a great shift towards colloquial English, thanks to social media, accepted boundaries between correct and incorrect usage of written English also seem to have shifted, although they can still be found in certain sectors. (What an elegant sentence to lead into the examples!)

Lately, the Neighbourhood Watch team was particularly keen to find younger recruits.
There have been some amazing claims in the press recently about the healing powers of the tail-snouted ringworm.

And now an example of a more modern usage, not necessarily grammatically correct, but perfectly acceptable:

I haven’t done any serious writing lately, though recently I started editing some old stories.

5

”Lately, the Neighbourhood Watch team was particularly keen to find younger recruits. ”
Am I right in supposing that the organization is probably still keen to find younger recruits?
If the organization “recently” stopped recruiting younger members, you did not use “lately” in the sentence?

Thank you for the information, SanneT.

6

Seeing that I wrote about a fictitious NWT, I can’t tell. But in view of what happened at our own NWT, the hapless team is probably still looking for younger recruits (I bet they’d be pleased about any newcomers…)

But you are right, “lately” originally most often implied “in the not-so-recent past and still going on”. Well spotted, Sherlock!

7

Thank you, Ms Watson.

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