By evening / by the evening

Question

I woke up with ___ bad headache, yet by ___ evening the pain had gone.  A  the; the    B  the; an    C  a; the    D  a; anTo my ear, I would say by evening, which sounds standard.Am I right, please?Thank you very much.

Glenn Worden · Accepted Answer

norwolf... I would say "I woke up with a bad headache, yet by evening, the pain had gone."  Although "by the evening" would not be incorrect.  It's just a matter of preference.

Norwolf · Answer

I am trying to learn to use definite articles and zero articles with reference to time this way:
1?words indicating time periods: morning, night, and so on.
As usual, those words take the preposition in and the definite article the, because on this occasion, those time words perform their original meanings as everyone can see, and we use the, while the preposition in suggests including a particular range.
2?When we obsessively consider the time words above to perform time points, we drop the, because they have lost their original meanings. In this situation, we use prepositions referring to time points, such as: by, before, after, at, towards.

I would think the zero article in by evening is involved not only preference but also logic, although a book named English Grammar in Use says only by the afternoon can be said. I wonder if it is misleading me.
So I say: in the morning/ at morning/ by morning/ before morning/ towards morning, at night/ in the night.
I would be excited to learn any ideas about my assumption from your teachers, please.

By evening / by the evening

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