Time of (the) year/month/day

It's a good question. My take on this is that the definite article is optional in these cases.

My wife:
I am so tired of all the Christmas shopping!

Me:
Well, yes, it's that time of year!
Well, yes, it's that time of the year!

You could say that the second one ("that time of the year") may refer to a particular year, but it

(The following is US usage.)

The second sentences, with "...of year...", "...of month...", and "...of day...", are not often heard. The first sentences, with the definite article, are typically used, for example:

A: "What time of the year do you like the best?"
B: "I like autumn the best."

C: "What time of the month do you usually receive your credit card bill?"

AnonymousI cannot think of a situation where "What time of year..." is used.

Is this really correct? Google Ngrams shows it just as frequent in the US as the UK, in fact a bit more so, and it's certainly familiar enough in the UK.

In the US, "What time of year..." would typically be heard in rural areas, since it is considered somewhat less than standard usage:

Farmer 1: "What time of year do you plant corn?"
Farmer 2: "In April or May usually."

You'd also hear it in poetry and song, since the definite article is an extra syllable that's hard to fit into a poetic rhythm:

"What time of year

AnonymousIn the US, "What time of year..." would typically be heard in rural areas, since it is considered somewhat less than standard usage:

This does not appear to be correct.

There are citations for 'What time of Year' in the Corpus of Contemporary American English from the San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, NBC, CBS and several academ

fivejedjonThis does not appear to be correct.There are citations for 'What time of Year' in the Corpus of Contemporary American English from the San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, NBC, CBS and several academic sources.

Thanks for digging those out. I found it a surprising claim.