My question hails from this question here on ELL.
I'd like to know the nuance of the noun 'afternoon' and the phrase 'after noon'. How do we say (in speech) and clearly distinguish their usage?
I'm not here after noon
I'm not here after the noon
I'm not here afternoon
The second seems correct but the first does not look bad. Also, do we need to give a big pause to differentiate the first and third sentence in speech?
Best Answer
The confusion comes from the fact that 'after noon' and 'afternoon', while looking looking similar, do not refer to exactly the same thing.
For example, 11PM is technically 'after noon' - noon has passed. But it isn't within the time period considered to be 'afternoon' (generally ~12:00PM-5:00PM).
That states that you won't be around once the indicated time has passed. Not in the evening, or at night.
After 'the' noon sounds odd, because there is only one noon every day - no need to specify which noon we're talking about.
This doesn't make any sense. You should say "I'm not here in the afternoon", because you're talking about something within a designated time period. Depending on the schedule you keep, this leaves the option open for you to be here in the evening or at night.