The phrase "a pretty recent" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe something that has occurred or been created not long ago, often in a casual or informal context.
Example: "I just read a pretty recent article about climate change that had some interesting insights."
Alternatives: "a fairly recent" or "a relatively recent".
The dozens of Web sites all state the annuity rate received by Valerie Green is 8% a year, and the context implies it was a pretty recent deal.
Clearly divided pink and blue aisles with dolls and tea sets on one side and trucks and building blocks on the other is actually a pretty recent development.
The first of these was Sinosauropteryx, which was only described in 1996 – feathered dinosaurs basal to birds are a pretty recent phenomenon.
ELIZABETH KOLBERT: There is definitely evidence that humans have continued to evolve in response to a changing diet — for example lactose tolerance in adults is a pretty recent trait that's arisen a few times in societies that raised cows.
A pretty recent one which covers the entire tale, and which is particularly strong on Bain Capital's internal culture, is "The Romney Economy," a cover story for New York magazine last fall by Benjamin Wallace-Wells.
Glenn said: "Because of the history of the summer, when we contacted and interviewed a number of managers [after Roy Hodgson's departure], we had a pretty recent database of what was out there and the job was to assess Gareth against that.
Kaggle has a bit of a history with Google, too, but that's pretty recent.
JF Which I understand was pretty recent, geologically speaking.
"As you know, the research on this is pretty recent," the spokeswoman, Ana Marengo, said.
It's pretty recent history, so mostly political scientists have weighed in on this.
The earliest works of literature we have are based on history, in the case of Aeschylus' The Persians, pretty recent history.
