Is This Sentence Acceptable?

[murat guler]

Hi All


As you know, in a general question, the days of the week should be asked as "what are the days of the week?"


Is this also acceptable.....?


"What are the days of a week?"


Thanks

[birdeen's call]

I can't convincingly argue that it's incorrect, but I wouldn't use it. I understand you want to ask a question to which the correct answer is

"Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday."

In this case, I would think about week as a unique object: a unit of time consisting of unique "days": Monday, Tuesday, etc.

However, I would say

How many centimeters are there in a meter?

I'm not sure why. The difference seems to be that the parts of a meter (the centimeters) are not thought to be uniquely determined -- no one (I think) thinks about the first and the fifty-second centimeter of a meter, though it's possible. I don't quite see however how it explains the indefinite article.

[emsr2d2]

I can't convincingly argue that it's incorrect, but I wouldn't use it. I understand you want to ask a question to which the correct answer is

"Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday."

In this case, I would think about week as a unique object: a unit of time consisting of unique "days": Monday, Tuesday, etc.

However, I would say

How many centimeters are in a meter?

I'm not sure why.

By the same token though, we would say "How many days in a week?" or "How many days are in a week?" or "How many days are there in a week?"

How many months are there in a year?
What are the names of the months of the year?

How many days are there in a week?
What are the [names of the] days of the week?

[birdeen's call]

By the same token though, we would say "How many days in a week?" or "How many days are in a week?" or "How many days are there in a week?"

How many months are there in a year?
What are the names of the months of the year?

How many days are there in a week?
What are the [names of the] days of the week?

Right! I didn't think it through. I'm still not sure why it works this way though!

[billmcd]

Hi All


As you know, in a general question, the days of the week should be asked as "what are the days of the week?"


Is this also acceptable.....?


"What are the days of a week?" Not the typical way to ask this question. In fact, you should expect the answer to the use of "a" in this case to be "seven".


Thanks

b.