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Is "I haven't eaten since yesterday" ambiguous?

Does it mean I haven't eaten from yesterday until now (i.e. I didn't eat anything yesterday and I haven't eaten anything ever since), or I haven't eaten in the period of time after yesterday (i.e. I ate something yesterday but haven't eaten anything ever since)?

Apollyon
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3 Answers3

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If a surgeon had to perform emergency surgery on a patient, the surgeon might well inquire: When did you have your last meal?

To which the patient might reply: I have not eaten anything since yesterday.

That's to say that the last time the patient took food was prior to midnight. It could have been at any point up until midnight, and might have referred to several meals during the course of the previous day.

So your statement means that the person concerned had eaten the previous day, possibly several times, but has not consumed any food since then.

It's not ambiguous - although it's also not clear when the last meal was consumed.

Ronald Sole
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  • What about "John has been off work since Tuesday"? Does it mean he worked on Tuesday but has been away from work since then? – Apollyon Aug 05 '17 at 10:12
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    I've been on vacation since Monday would be understood to mean that my vacation began on Monday. He's been out of work since the factory burned to the ground would mean that his unemployment began with the destruction of the factory – TimR Aug 05 '17 at 12:36
  • How about "since May it has only rained once"? When did the rain occur? In or after May? – Apollyon Aug 06 '17 at 08:06
  • @Apollyon It's a bit like saying: I haven't seen him since Christmas. You might have seen him the day before Christmas, on Christmas Day, the day after Christmas or any approximate day. It simply refers to a period with no clear starting or finishing point. – Ronald Sole Aug 06 '17 at 22:22
  • "Since May it has only rained once" means it rained once or more than once in May, but after the end of May it has only rained once. "John has been off work since Tuesday" is genuinely ambiguous; it could mean that John worked on Tuesday but has been off work since finishing his workday on Tuesday, or it could mean Tuesday was the first day of his vacation. – Nanigashi Oct 02 '20 at 17:36
  • @Nanigashi if someone hasn't brushed their teeth since yesterday. It means exactly what it says, we don't know how many times or the time of day when the teeth were cleaned yesterday. But what we do know is the action was not performed the next day. – Mari-Lou A Oct 03 '20 at 13:18
  • @Mari-Lou A What you've written is indisputably true, but it also doesn't seem very relevant to anything I wrote, or to the two examples Apollyon asked about. Perhaps you've misread? – Nanigashi Oct 03 '20 at 16:25
  • @Nanigashi it seemed you were disputing Sole's answer, perhaps I did misread. But I don't understand how it could have rained more than once in May if someone says "Since May it has rained once". If the statement is said during the month of May the number of times the rain has fallen is still once, regardless of the date. But if the statement is made in July, then we know for certain the drought period began sometime in May. – Mari-Lou A Oct 03 '20 at 17:14
  • @Mari-Lou A, most native speakers wouldn't say "since May it has only rained once" during the month of May – only sometime after the end of May. (In this sentence, "since May" means "during the period after the end of May." Realistically, we also wouldn't say this is during the first few days of June. And we could in fact say it if the "drought" began in June, provided it rained on May 31. (Of course, we could also say it if the situation was not yet dire enough to merit being called a drought.) – Nanigashi Oct 05 '20 at 17:55
  • @Nanigashi I confess I do not fully understand what was meant when you said: "Since May it has only rained once" means it rained once or more than once in May, but after the end of May* it has only rained once.* What did you mean by or more than once in May? – Mari-Lou A Oct 05 '20 at 18:00
  • @Mari-Lou A, I meant simply that "Since May it has rained only once" tells us nothing about how many times it rained during May. It may have rained once during May, or it may have rained every day during May. But from June 1 until the present, it has rained only once. If you want to include May in the period during which it has only rained once, you have to say something like "since the start of May." – Nanigashi Oct 05 '20 at 18:03
  • @Nanigashi It hasn't rained since May is all that is needed. I'd argue it's very confusing to say it may have rained every day during May that the adverb "once" does not exclude "several" instances. Because, it does exactly that. It rained once in May cannot possibly represent four weeks or even two weeks of constant rain. Please post a question or an answer suggesting what you have just said above. Meanwhile, I think Ronald Sole is probably fed up with 2 users exchanging numerous comments under their answer. Sorry, Ronald. I'll keep quiet now. Promise. – Mari-Lou A Oct 05 '20 at 18:21
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If you say "I haven't eaten since yesterday", it will almost always be interpreted as meaning that you ate yesterday.

That said, technically it is ambiguous.

If you had a group of people and you knew when each one had last eaten, you could sort them into two categories. Those who had eaten since yesterday (i.e. those who had eaten today) and those who hadn't. The latter category would include everyone who hadn't eaten today regardless of whether they ate yesterday.

If the doctor asked you, "Have you eaten since yesterday?" and you hadn't eaten since two days ago, you could say, "No, I haven't" - and your answer would be true. It's probably more likely that you would fill him in on the details, but your answer would nevertheless be correct.

One scenario where something similar might make sense would be if on Tuesday your doctor knew you hadn't eaten since Sunday. Then on Wednesday he asks you whether you've eaten since he spoke to you yesterday. A simple "no" is sufficient and doesn't imply that you were eating when he spoke to you yesterday.

rjpond
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  • I can't decipher what you meant when you said ,"The latter category would include everyone who had eaten today regardless of whether they ate yesterday." Did you mean to say "The latter category would include everyone who HAD NOT eaten today regardless of whether they ate yesterday"? – Apollyon Oct 03 '20 at 09:48
  • You are correct, that is what I meant, sorry. I've amended my answer. – rjpond Oct 03 '20 at 09:50
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I haven't eaten since yesterday, simply means that I ate yesterday which could be either noon time, evening or morning time, but following after yesterday I did not eat any thing.

Isaac Nathaniel
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