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Most people like to rest after a day's hard work but he seemed to have an inexhaustive supply of energy.

Is the above sentence grammatically correct ? Is the phrase day's hard work correct or is it hard day's work ?

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    This is a matter of choice, not grammar.
    – Robusto
    Commented Oct 17, 2017 at 18:51

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Both options are grammatically correct. However, you should probably use a hard day's work instead of a day's hard work.

A hard day's work is a set phrase, even though "hard" is modifying "day." A day's hard work is actually more logical -- "hard work" is a very common phrase. However, native English speakers would not usually say a day's hard work. It sounds awkward, because a hard day's work is much more common -- and to change the order of the words seems like a humorous attempt to misquote the set phrase on purpose.

So I would recommend using hard day's work.

A perfectly good alternative is to say a day of hard work. Or even a long day of back-breaking work.

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  • If you are going to use "back-breaking", I would replace "work" and upgrade to "labor"
    – Kirt
    Commented Oct 17, 2017 at 19:57
  • Ha, I can go for that!
    – Ringo
    Commented Oct 17, 2017 at 20:53

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