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He gave me a post-dated cheque with the maturity date 10 days later than I expected.

He gave me a post-dated cheque with the maturity date 10 days longer than I expected.

Which one should I use to make this sentence sound natural “longer” or “later”?

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  • One date is later than another. However, we would just say: check with a future date, 10 days in the future.
    – Lambie
    Commented Nov 21, 2022 at 16:59

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If two dates are being compared the "later" is the correct word. If the duration of the event is being discussed then "longer" is the correct word.

The update took longer than expected so the release date will be 10 days later.

In your example it's ambiguous whether the topic is the date or the duration. Either word seems acceptable here, but additional context of the conversation might affect that.

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