Prepositions of Time

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Shylock  #388058  Wed, 04 Jul 07 06:56 PM

A friend of mine and I have had a disagreement lately about the need to use the preposition "on" in the phrase "See you on Monday."

He feels that one can say "See you Monday."  He is Canadian.  I am American.  We are both English teachers working in Peru.

I look forward to reading your opinion.  Thank you.

  
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CalifJim  #388086  Wed, 04 Jul 07 08:38 PM
Welcome to English Forums!

The use of on is optional to judge by the hundreds of people who use it and the hundreds who don't.  It's perhaps a little more formal with on.  A sentence like See you Monday is as common as dirt where I live.  I don't think anybody considers it ungrammatical.  Telegraphic or abbreviated stylistically, perhaps, but not ungrammatical.

CJ

  
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Yankee  #388092  Wed, 04 Jul 07 08:57 PM
Hi Shylock

Here's a comment from the East Coast:
I agree with CJ's analysis completely. Smile [:)]

  
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Shylock  #388415  Thu, 05 Jul 07 07:27 PM

Thanks for your input.  By way of measuring how strict you are in grammar usage, consider these phrases:

1.  I am trying to eat healthier.

   I am trying to eat more healthily.

We can agree that number 2 is more correct than number 1, but few people use phrase 2.  Do you therefore agree that phrase 1 is not wrong?

  
CalifJim  #388505  Fri, 06 Jul 07 01:12 AM
Yes.  But I wouldn't use either one.  Maybe I'm not very concerned about my health!   Smile [:)]

CJ

  
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