His gaze swung around, and he rechecked the previous subjects for footwear.

I went back to the previous subject and said, "The more you tell me about Flight 800, the more inner peace you'll find."

"I think I know why your previous subjects had so much trouble," she said.

Now let us return to the previous subject.

His subject matter grew and he began to sketch furniture along with his previous subjects.

The two examples may seem similar, but only the pronoun it in the first example links with the previous subject.

In this second talk I want to mention a view which has a long history in the Church, far longer than my previous subject.

'Hmmm,' she said, leaning into him, clearly no longer interested in the previous subject of conversation.

But it was something else compared with my previous subjects.

As he considered his next bite, he returned to the previous subject.