Originally posted by: Ramma2
So when you say next summer, do you mean the summer of 08 or the summer of 09?
This summer = summer of 08
Next summer = summer of 09
This sunday = Feb 3
Next sunday = Feb 10
The house analogy is not relavent because we are talking about the passage of time, not the physical location of an item.
Although I agree with you on the This summer = sum 08, and Next summer = sum 09, I don't agree with how you use This Sunday/Next Sunday.
"This Sunday" means Jan 27th, only b/c to me, a week begins with Sunday and ends with Sat. Thus, any day of the current week is preceded with a "This".
"Next Sunday" means Feb 3rd, b/c it falls in the up coming week.
Of course, most of the time the context of the sentence will help determine what is meant, for example: "This sunday I went to the park." Obviously I'm referring to Jan 27th.
So going back with the summer thing. This summer is in this year which begins from Jan. 1 and ends Dec 31st. So any season that falls in 2008 will be "This", while any season in 09 will be "next".
EDIT: Most people will add other words to help remove any ambiguity, such as " This past sunday" or "this coming sunday".