Later in the year vs Later this year (2025)

Later in the year, when X Press acquires the smaller publisher Zippy Books, many departments will be merged.

Is it also OK to use "Later this year" in the sentence? If so, is there any difference in meaning between them?
Thanks a lot.

You might want to ask your English teacher what s/he meant about "this" being the origin of "the," as it sounds confusing.

As Myridon explained in #3, "later in the year" could refer to any year. For example, "In 2015, we'll hold our conference in Paris. In 2016, we'll have workshops in London in the spring, and then later in the year, we'll have a large conference in Tangiers." In that context, "later in the year" means "later in 2016."

"Later this year" refers to the year in which the conversation is taking place.

baab said:

Thank you and sorry I still can't figure out the difference in meaning between "later in this year" and "later this year". Could you explain more?

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Hi baab

You originally asked about: [ Later in the year vs Later this year ] but now your question has changed.

There is no significant difference that you need to be concerned about between "later in this year" and "later this year", except that "later this year" is more natural/colloquial in most cases.

However, there are significant differences between the two phrases in your original question.

"Later this year" refers to the current year ie 2015 or whatever year it was when the author wrote or said it.

"Later in the year" could refer to this year or to any other year, in the future or even in the past.

For example:

I am going to Spain next week and Poland later in the year (ie later in 2015, presumably).

King Zonk invaded France in spring, 1234; later in the year (later in the year 1234), he decided to withdraw.

Sumsang will launch their new Galixy 99 phone in spring 2016, and further models later in the year (ie later in 2016).

Note that when you use "later in the year" it must be clear which year we are referring to, either the present year or some other year specified in one way or another.