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Context: Let's say I want to tell a classmate about that I need to do the homework due the next day. Do you think it is okay to say these sentences:

I need to do the due homework.

I need to do the homework that is due.

I am asking this because I am more used to seeing "due" with a specified time like in "I need to do the homework due tomorrow." The examples I gave sound okay to me from my experience in English, but I was not one hundred percent sure.

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  • I think due without any mention of time would be assumed to mean 'due now'.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Nov 7, 2021 at 13:51
  • The cited usage is grammatically "valid", but not remotely "idiomatic" - unless you're so late that you need to hand in your overdue homework. As an adjective used before a noun, due only normally occurs in a few "frozen forms", such as Applications will not be accepted after the due date, and The management buyout team performed necessary due diligence.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Nov 7, 2021 at 15:22
  • ... Other that that, you'll see it used as a "predicative adjective" (after the noun) in contexts like Please immediately pay the amount due (where due amount would be a "marked, unusual" alternative).
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Nov 7, 2021 at 15:29
  • Thanks for the responses.
    – Fire and Ice
    Commented Nov 8, 2021 at 6:44

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The first sentence is simply weird. A native speaker might not even understand you.

The second sentence feels as though something is missing. As mentioned above, "due" without a time generally means now, so unless you're sitting in class and the teacher is about to collect it, this doesn't work either.

In almost all cases, some sort of time will follow the word "due" in a sentence. "I need to do the homework that is due tomorrow."

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