for the next few months/for (the) next month

[kadioguy]

[From a TOEIC test]

a. We appreciate your coming in as a marketing consultant for the next few months.
b. We appreciate your coming in as a marketing consultant for (the) next month. [my sentence]
---
I suppose that in (a) "the" is necessary while in (b) "the" is optional. Is that right?

 

[emsr2d2]

The definite article is required in both. In b, "for the next month" means for the next thirty(ish) days, starting from either today or tomorrow. If you said "for next month", it would be both awkward (verging on ungrammatical) and have a different meaning - if you said it in August, it would mean the person was going to come in for the whole of September (but none of August).

 

[kadioguy]

The definite article is required in both. In b, "for the next month" means for the next thirty(ish) days, starting from either today or tomorrow. If you said "for next month", it would be both awkward (verging on ungrammatical) and have a different meaning - if you said it in August, it would mean the person was going to come in for the whole of September (but none of August).

So in b, "for the next month" means "for the next thirty(ish) days, starting from either today or tomorrow".

While "for next month" means, like, if I said it in August, it would mean the person was going to come in for the whole of September (but none of August).

Have I got it?

 

[5jj]

Have I got it?

Well, you have successfully played back what emsr2d2 told you.

 

[emsr2d2]

Well, you have successfully played back what emsr2d2 told you.

@kadioguy You have a habit of doing this. After receiving a response, there is no need to simply repeat what you've been told. If you have follow-up questions, that's OK, but don't just regurgitate someone else's response and then say "Have I got it?"

In post #3, you literally added my response in the quote box and then copied it pretty much exactly in your own post. You even put my words in quotation marks! That doesn't tell us whether you've "got it" or not. It simply shows that you can copy someone else's words!

 

[kadioguy]

Oh, my bad. But how about this? I hope this is a complete one:

a. We appreciate your coming in as a marketing consultant for the next few months.

In a, "for the next few months" means for the next few thirty(ish) days, starting from either today or tomorrow.

If you said "for next few months", it would have a different meaning - if you said it in August, it would mean the person was going to come in for the whole of September, Octorber, Normember and so on (but none of August).

If you meant “for the next few thirty(ish) days, starting from either today or tomorrow”, and you used "for next few months", it would be awkward (and verging on ungrammatical).
--------
b. We appreciate your coming in as a marketing consultant for the next month.

In b, "for the next month" means for the next thirty(ish) days, starting from either today or tomorrow.

If you said "for next month", it would have a different meaning - if you said it in August, it would mean the person was going to come in for the whole of September (but none of August).

If you meant “for the next thirty(ish) days, starting from either today or tomorrow”, and you used "for next month", it would be awkward (and verging on ungrammatical).

 

[emsr2d2]

"For next few months" is ungrammatical. It would be "... for the next few months". "For the next few thirty(ish) days" is also ungrammatical.

The rest of your last post appears, again, to simply be a complete copy of my first long response. You must stop posting anything that isn't relevant. If you want to query a particular part of someone's response, quote it (just the relevant part) so it appears in a quote box, then add your follow-up question directly underneath it. It needs to be very clear which parts of a post are quotes of a previous response and which parts have been written by you.

 

[5jj]

a. We appreciate your coming in as a marketing consultant for the next few months.

In a, "for the next few months" means for the next few thirty(ish) days, starting from either today or tomorrow.

No. It means for the next few months, perhaps six. We don't know exactly. We also don't know exactly whem it starts.

If you said "for next few months", it would have a different meaning -

It would be incorrect.

If you meant “for the next few thirty(ish) days, starting from either today or tomorrow”, and you used "for next few months", it would be awkward (and verging on ungrammatical).

It would be complely wrong.

 

[kadioguy]

Ah, sorry for that. Let me make a conclusion:

b. We appreciate your coming in as a marketing consultant for the next month.

This means this:

"for the next month" means for the next thirty(ish) days, starting from either today or tomorrow.

b' We appreciate your coming in as a marketing consultant for [no "the" here] next month.

This means this:

If you said "for next month", it would [...] have a different meaning - if you said it in August, it would mean the person was going to come in for the whole of September (but none of August).

And if I meant b, I should not say b', because:

it would be both awkward (verging on ungrammatical) and have a different meaning ... . [as said above]

----
a. We appreciate your coming in as a marketing consultant for the next few months.

This is different from b.

In a, "the" is necessary or it would be incorrect. So I think "for (the) next month" and "for the next few months" are two different patterns. (I thought they were the same since they both had "next" and "month".)

That's what I have learned from you both about this question.
----
Although it seems that I didn't have a follow-up question in this reply, but I think that this summary makes the discussion clearer and would be helpful to others who interested (and me).

 

[5jj]

 

[emsr2d2]

Although it seems that I didn't have a follow-up question in this reply, but I think that this summary makes the discussion clearer and would be helpful to others who are interested (and to me).

I disagree. There is no need to summarise anyone's responses. If you don't have a relevant follow-up question, please resist the temptation to post at all.

 

[kadioguy]

In b, "for the next month" means for the next thirty(ish) days, starting from either today or tomorrow.

Would some native speakers use "for the next month" to mean "for next month"?

I mean, they want to mean things like this: (This is an example of "for next month")

if you said it in August, it would mean the person was going to come in for the whole of September (but none of August).

But they say "for the next month" (rather than "for next month").

Could that happen?

 

[5jj]

I have locked this thread. Enough is enough.