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Gamma Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

A/The day after....

Example:

A day after the game, players took a long-expected vacation.

Please, tell me: should I write "THE day after..." or both variants are ok?
  

Top answer

Both are ok. It really depends on what you want to say. A day means one day after the game.

— Ivanhr

  • Both are ok.
  • It really depends on what you want to say.
  • A day means one day after the game.
  • If you say the day, emphasis is on the day they took the long-expected vacation.
  • In my view, a day is better here.
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8 Answers
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Both are ok. It really depends on what you want to say. A day means one day after the game. If you say the day, emphasis is on the day they took the long-expected vacation. In my view, a day is better here. Also I'd say the players not just players. This is just me. I could be wrong here.
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You can use either "a" or "the" in the sentence.
A day after the game, players took a long-expected vacation.
In the context, if you say "a day after the game", then you are referring to an amount of time. In other words, you would be telling the reader how long after the game the players went on vacation. It would be similar to saying this:
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I agree with you Amy. However, 'a day after the game' refers to a specific point in time just like the day after the game. The difference is that when using the 'the', for some reason, you want to emphasize the exact date (in this case implicitly) the players took the long-awaited vacations.
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IvanhrHowever, 'a day after the game' refers to a specific point in time just like the day after the game.
In the context, "a day" refers only to an amout of time (i.e. how much time). The use of "the day" refers to a specific point in time (i.e. when).
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Now that you say it, it makes sense. What I meant is 'a day' refers to an amount of time (24 hours) while ' a day after the game' refers to a specific point in time (the next day)'.

It's settled then.
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IvanhrWhat I meant is 'a day' refers to an amount of time (24 hours) while ' a day after the game' refers to a specific point in time (the next day)'.
It's settled then.
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Good point Jim!

I admit not seeing that at first.

But that still doesn't change the fact that 'a day after the game' refers to a specific time whether it's the next day or any other day after the game.

I went fishing on a nice, summer day. (a specific point in time, specific reference)

I went fishing on the day John crashed his car. (both specific and definit
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On this site we are not always so careful about distinguishing between 'specific' and 'definite' as you were in your previous post.
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