These days/Recently/On these days,

These days/Recently/In these days, people often promise to improve their health by exercising more, eating healthier or quitting smoking.

Do all of the bolded phrases fit in the above and equate each other in meaning? Thanks.

Marius Hancu wrote:

Only the first is OK. In these days is bad English.

Thanks, Marius.

Now I wonder why the second doesn't do the trick and what are the differences between it and the first.

By the way, does "On these days" sound better?

Recently, (these) people have often promised to improve their health by exercising more, eating healthier or quitting smoking.

Recently usually needs present perfect.

Marius Hancu wrote:

Only the first is OK. In these days is bad English.

Hi Marius Hancu,

I am stumped by your comment. Here is an extract from a CBC's webpage talking about Pavarotti's fight against illness:

"In these days, one of the greatest of Italians is conducting a major battle." - http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2007/09/05/pavarotti-italy.html?ref=rss

Here is an extract from a BBC's webpage:

"BBC columnist Mike Baker looked at how the government sees the new diplomas ... They need to be rigorous enough - but in these days of falling standards.." - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7155971.stm

Besides these two examples, my Google search from a gateway in Vietnam shows more than 180,000 hits using the same phrase, "In this days". They cannot be all wrong!

Could you please explain?

Thanks,
Hoa Thai

I'm sticking to my guns. And I will not explain. This is how English works in my opinion.

In these days of
is correct.
In these days (as used in the above in the original example)
is NOT.

You believe what you want to believe.

This is a good example, IMO, with in these days :

----
In these days of record employment, with over-crowded classrooms and
long hours to look forward to, who actually wants to be a teacher?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk/910925.stm
----