If I don't have any milk the whole day

[touchstone]

1. If I don't have any milk the whole day, it feels as if something's missing.
2. If I go a whole day without having any milk, it feels like something's missing.

I wonder if ‘a’ in sentence 1 and ‘the’ in sentence two are interchangeable.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[J&K Tutoring]

Think carefully about the meaning of interchangeable.

1a. If I don't have any milk the whole day, it feels as if something's missing. :tick:
1b. If I don't have any milk a whole day, it feels as if something's missing. :cross:

2a. If I go a whole day without having any milk, it feels like something's missing. :tick:
2b. If I go the whole day without having any milk, it feels like something's missing. :tick:

2a is preferred, but 2b is okay.

 

[emsr2d2]

With 1b, if you add "for" before "a", it's OK in BrE.

 

[touchstone]

With 1b, if you add "for" before "a", it's OK in BrE.

Would you please tell me why this sentence needs a 'for' before 'a' to be correct?

 

[Matthew Wai]

1c. If I don't have any milk for a whole day, it feels as if something's missing.
2a. If I go a whole day without having any milk, it feels like something's missing.

"A whole day" is a period of time, so "for" is needed in 1c.
In 2a, I think "go a whole day" is similar to "spend a whole day", so "for" is not needed.

 

[touchstone]

In 1a and 2b, 'the whole day' acts as an adverb. Am I right?

 

[jutfrank]

In 1a and 2b, 'the whole day' acts as an adverb. Am I right?

Yes, the phrase is adverbial.

 

[touchstone]

If I don't have any milk the whole day, it feels as if something's missing.

I wonder if I could put a ‘for’ before ‘the whole day’ in the sentence above as follows:

If I don't have any milk for the whole day, it feels as if something's missing.

 

[touchstone]

Dear friends,

Would you please help me by answering my question in #8?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Brian

 

[Matthew Wai]

"For the whole day" means the same to this learner.

 

[touchstone]

Think carefully about the meaning of interchangeable.

1a. If I don't have any milk the whole day, it feels as if something's missing. :tick:
1b. If I don't have any milk a whole day, it feels as if something's missing. :cross:

2a. If I go a whole day without having any milk, it feels like something's missing. :tick:
2b. If I go the whole day without having any milk, it feels like something's missing. :tick:

2a is preferred, but 2b is okay.

My understanding:

Grammatically, there’s a ‘for’ before ‘a whole day’ and ‘the whole day’ in the four sentences above respectively. For 1a, 2a, and 2b, the ‘for’ is usually omitted, but for 1b, the ‘for’ should be kept. It's just the way people use it.

I wonder if my understanding is correct.
Many thanks in advance.

 

[Matthew Wai]

This non-native would simply stick with the grammatical ones and let native speakers omit what they want to omit.