by (the) afternoon

[joham]

Martin Hewings' ADVANCED GRAMMAR IN USE (second edition, 2005) has such a sentence in Unit 47:

I'll be there by (the) morning/evening/ by the afternoon. (Not by afternoon)

I searched the reference.com web, and found more results for "by afternoon" than for "by the afternoon". I feel puzzled. How would you native English speakers use this phrase?

Thank you very much.

 

[Anglika]

I am puzzled by the restriction.

I will be there by morning/afternoon/evening - unspecific period, but identifiable from the wider context. "I will be there by afternoon tomorrow"/"I will be there by afternoon on Tuesday next week".

I will be there by the morning/the afternoon/the evening - You and whoever you are addressing know which is being referred to. "I will be coming on the 25th. I will be there by the morning"/"I plan to come on the 1st. I will be there by the evening".