"A year on from " vs " A year from "

Question

A year on from Arsenal's Villa humiliation there is, once more, only one Arsene Wenger.

A Year From Now You'll Wish You'd Started Today.

Is there any difference in meaning ? Are they interchangeable ?

Answer 1

I'm not sure of any strict grammatical rules about them, but from my understanding, they're not necessarily interchangeable:

"A year on from" is retrospective; it refers to the present (as in your example) or a date that has already happened being a year after some other event. In other words, you can only describe one thing as being "a year on from" another if both events have already happened.

It's also a little archaic; depending on context, I'd rather use "a year since" or "a year after".

"A year from" is more general, but it is generally used when talking prospectively (in other words, about a date ahead of the date you are referencing). That means that you can use it in the past tense, but only to refer to an event ahead of the date you are discussing. For example:

In January last year, Keith walked into his new office, certain that his life was looking up. He did not know that only a year from first walking into that office, his life would be turned upside down once again.

The year gap is from January 2013 to January 2014; both are in the past, but the date "a year from" the other is ahead of it.

I think it is possible to use "a year from" retrospectively as well ("a year from his first day of work, Keith's life was turned upside down once again"), but it sounds odd to me; I'd rather use "a year after" or something similar.