1

I'm double-checking it:

She goes swimming on Tuesday.

Is it the same as "She goes swimming on Tuesdays"?

Generally, do we necessarily pluralize the days of the week if something is frequently done on any day of the week?

I guess the answer will be "it should be plural; Tuesdays". Then what about this: "We don't work on Thursday?". Here, it is perfectly understood that they don't work on any Thursday during the month. Right? But no plurality. Why? Why can I use singularity of the day here, which refers to the frequent occurrence of something, but I can't do the same in the swimming example. What's the technical answer?

Improve this question
1
  • 2
    "We don't work on Thursday" would actually be a bit ambiguous. It would only be clear if you say "We don't work on Thursdays" or "We don't [ever] work on a Thursday".
    – ralph.m
    Commented Jun 11, 2023 at 6:33

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

No, those two sentences are not the same.

The first sentence probably means that she is scheduled to go swimming this Tuesday only.

This is because one of the functions of present simple is a one-time future scheduled event. Some clear examples of this function:

My flight leaves at 10:43 pm.
This year's hunting season begins next week.
The party is on the 23rd.

But in a context where it's clear it refers to repeating Tuesdays, the first sentence means she goes swimming every Tuesday:

Lucy has the same schedule every week. She goes swimming on Tuesday.

It's correct, but it would be more common to say "Tuesdays".

The second sentence can only mean that she goes swimming every Tuesday.

Improve this answer
3
  • Thank you. But some people believe that the first one doesn't imply "she goes swimming more than one Tuseday during the month", and if it several Tusedays, the day should be pluralized. I'm just making sure. And I'd welcome to read more explanation; I don't mind it. Thank you again.
    – Shahrooz
    Commented Jun 11, 2023 at 9:04
  • 2
    @Shahrooz: There is no concept of "more than once in any particular month" here. It's either [regularly] every Tuesday (by default, for all time in the past and future), OR specifically next Tuesday (with no implications at all about whether the same did or will happen on any other occasions).
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jun 11, 2023 at 11:52
  • @Shahrooz Thanks for the comment. I've edited my answer to make it clearer
    – gotube ♦
    Commented Jun 11, 2023 at 21:10

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .