Can only be used on their own....

Question

This wording has been very confusing to many people in this forum. I’ve read through the comments and still remain very confused about what the author is trying to convey when he/she states these clauses can only be used on their own. Could someone please explain to a Native American English speaker what this actually means? When I read this I am thinking literally “they can only be used on their own” either separated entirely from the phrase using some sort of punctuation OR by using a preposition such “de”. However that doesn’t seem to always be the case which then seems to contradict “used only on their own”. 1st example: “Il a été relâché le jour suivant son arrestation.”

2nd example: “J’y suis allée le jour d’après.”

3rd example: “Le jour précédent leur premier rendez-vous, ils étaient très nerveux.”

Alors, aidez-moi de comprendre, s’il vous plaît. Qu’est-ce que le auteur essaie de dire? Je ne comprends toujours pas. J’ai besoin de quelqu’un m’aider, s’il vous plaît.

Aussi, je pense qu’il faudrait réfléchir à la reformulation de cette phrase pour clarifier de la signification.

Merci beaucoup!

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Shabbychic,
I agree that this can be a tricky concept to master.
The expression ‘can only be used on their own’ means that the expressions are not directly followed by another expression / noun (as in example 1). Examples 2 & 3 are both followed by a noun as explained in the section entitled ‘Le jour suivant / Le jour précédant + noun = the day following / preceding [something]’
1 - J’y suis allée le jour d’après / le jour d’avant / le jeudi d’après = I went there the day after / before / the following Thursday

2 - Il a été relâché le jour suivant son arrestation = he was released the day following his arrest
→ the day following what? → his arrest – ‘following’ is a present participle (of ‘to follow’) followed by a direct object ‘his arrest’
→ le jour suivant quoi ? → son arrestation – ‘suivant’ is a present participle (of ‘suivre’) followed by a direct object ‘son arrestation’

3 - Le jour précédant leur premier rendez-vous, … = the day preceding their first date...
→ the day preceding what? → their first date – ‘preceding’ is a present participle (of ‘to precede’) followed by a direct object ‘their first date’
→ le jour précédant quoi ?→ leur premier rendez-vous – ‘précédant’ is a present participle (of ‘précéder’) followed by a direct object ‘leur premier rendez-vous'

Attention:
Le jour suivant (on the following day) / le jour précédent (on the preceding day) are NOT to be confused with le jour suivant/précédant + noun as their translation is very different. There is also a difference in spelling with ‘preceding’ : précédent (adjective) / précédant (present participle)
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Answer

Merci beaucoup de m’avoir aider avec ce sujet. But I’m still a bit confused regarding the following:

How can you say ‘ Examples 2 & 3 are both used on their own (not followed by a noun)’, but follow that with ‘ as explained in the section entitled ‘Le jour suivant / Le jour précédant + noun = the day following / preceding[something]’?

Perhaps you meant to say that examples 2 & 3 are NOT used on their own as explained in ‘Le jour suivant / Le jour précédant + noun = the day following / preceding[something]’

If that’s the case, then I believe I understand.

Answer

Bonjour Shabbychic,You are right! Thank you for pointing this out! I have edited my previous answer as I made a mistake in writing my explanation. I am terribly sorry about that and I hope it is now much clearer!Bonne journée !

Answer

Moi aussi, Shabbychic45 Michele! J'ai hâte de voir la réponse a vôtre question.