I had a(?) very good three days (2024)

Hi everyone!

I really don't understand what this "a" is doing here. I thought it was only used it for singular cases but I see it's not, so this issue's got me really puzzled.
This comes from a business English E-mail sample (in a coursebook). It says something like this person's just returned from a trip and (s)he is telling everything about it.

If this is not a mistake (which I'm sure it mustn't be) I'd like you to provide me with a couple of examples so that I can see how it works.

Thanks a lot!

It would be better to say,

"I had three very good days."

Technically, the sentence you originally had makes sense gramatically, but it definitely sounds awkward.

However, it IS gramatically correct.

"I had a very good three days" is like saying "I had a very good couple of days." or "I had a very good few days." The two latter examples would make more sense.

So, to finish up, the original sentence is CORRECT, but I'm sure it would sound awkward to anyone who heard it and is fluent in English.

~Elizabeth

You're right - this is a really odd one, on the face of it.

In fact, the 'a' here is still indicating a singular, because this expression is only ever used when a plural number of days can be said in some sense to represent a single unit of something - perhaps a holiday, or a business trip, or any other period of time unified in some sense, if only by the weather.

Examples:

'How was your holiday?'
'We had a great five days'.

'It rained the whole time, which made for a miserable three days'.

Does that help at all?

LouisaB

estudiante2102 said:

So, to finish up, the original sentence is CORRECT, but I'm sure it would sound awkward to anyone who heard it and is fluent in English.

~Elizabeth

Click to expand...

This may be a BE v AE point. It's a very common expression in England at least, and sounds pretty natural here, despite what I'd have to agree is some dodgy logic!

In this case it is using 'three days' as a singular item. The 'three days' is being used in the same way as 'break' or 'holiday' or 'business trip'.

You could say;
I had a good break.
I had a good holiday.
I had a good business trip.

I had a very good three days is a short hand way of saying that it was a successful event and giving the length of the trip or holiday as well.
I had a very good three days indicates prior knowledge of what the three days was and it is considered redundant to repeat this information.

I had a very good three days could also be used to invite the question, "What did you do on the three days?", thereby engaging the listener.

.,,

I have split this thread because the topic of "a good three days" meaning "at least three days" is interesting in its own right.

You'll find that thread as:
A good three days, meaning at least three days?

susantash said:

Thank you very much to all of you.
It makes sense now. I see it refers to a unit. the business trip lasted three days so it makes sense to talk about "a very good three days"

Click to expand...

That was the point that I was clumsily tramping around. The unit concept.
Thanks for that. May I use it next time I am trying to explain one of these weird English usages?

.,,