Date back to

To date back to

I thought I had a great phrasal verb to review today—“carry out.” But it turns out that I actually did that one already way, way, way back in Episode 25. So if you want to learn “carry out,” just go to PlainEnglish.com/25. But then I looked harder, and actually found an even better one. “To date back to,” is the expression we are going to review today.

An anthology of poems provided the inspiration for Reiwa, the new era name in Japan. And those poems date back to the eighth century—or, the 700’s AD. They date back to the 700s; that means, they had their origin in those years. When you say something dates back to a particular time, you mean that thing started or was created in that time. When you say something dates back for a particular length of time, then you mean it has existed for that amount of time. I’ll give you some examples using it both ways.

If you think those poems from Japan are old, the Imperial House of Japan, the tradition of having an emperor, dates back even farther. The very first emperor of Japan reigned from the year 660 BC to the year 585 BC. That means the Japanese emperor system dates back over 2,600 years! It started over 2,600 years ago. That is a long time. My country, by contrast, dates back to 1776 when the thirteen British colonies in the Americas collectively declared independence from Great Britain. The US, then, dates back just 243 years, or less than a tenth as far back as Japan. We’re the newcomers on the scene. I was curious about what is the world’s newest country. And I found out the newest country in the world is South Sudan, which dates back only to 2011, when it declared independence from Sudan. South Sudan, the newest country in the world, dates back only about eight years.

Remember we did an episode about The Simpsons? Or at least about the Simpsons murals in Mexico City. That was Episode 52. The Simpsons dates back to 1989. They’ve been making those for almost thirty years; it’s the longest-running American sitcom.

By now you can probably tell that we use “dates back to” when we’re talking about something that continues to this day. We don’t use it to describe something that just happened once. And we don’t use it to describe something that’s over. We use it when we’re talking about the beginning of something that happens continuously, and still exists today. Believe it or not, they’re still making Simpsons episodes, so we can say that show dates back to 1989.

This program dates back to about December 2017. And in that time, I have gotten to know so many of you and I really, truly value the connection that we have, JR and I, to all of you. We have built quite the community in just about a year and a half. And as always, I want to thank you for making Plain English a part of your lives and a part of your routines.

Before we go, I want to say “hi” to a few listeners. Vinicius from Brazil sent me a nice voice message saying thank you for helping millions of people improve their English. I’ll take the compliment, but we’re not quite reaching millions of people just yet. But with your help spreading the word, we will! And second, Lucas, also from Brazil, sent me an amazing message. He said he listens to old episodes of the program as he works, and had to explain to his dad, who is his boss, that he’s not listening to music or anything, but to English lessons. I love hearing that, and I reminded Lucas that studies have shown that listening to Plain English actually improves your productivity at work. It makes you a better worker because it activates your brain. Thank you Lucas for that great message. Thank you Lucas’s dad for letting him listen at work.

That brings us to the end of today’s program. Don’t forget Audible at PlainEnglish.com/book . And JR and I will be back on Thursday for even more Plain English. See you then.