In coming days vs In the next few days (2024)

Hello everyone

I have a 'mission' to complete for tomorrow class and I'd like to have the opinions of you for this issue.

Today in class, we had a debate over the difference between in coming days vs in the next few days.

Our English teacher refused to give the answer away to us and insisted that we should come up with the answers by ourselves.

I personally think that when some events take place in coming days, they can take up to even 7 days, which means a week but using 'in the next few days' indicates
that it would problably take 3-4 days only.

I'd truly like to have the opinions of the fourm members please, before I write down the answer for my teacher...

Thank you all!

In coming days does not sound liike modern English. But in the next few days is very common.
You can say either in the coming days or in the days to come, both of which sound more formal.

You can compare it with in the last days, which is unusual. Here we say in the last few days or in recent days.

someday​

Hi mohammad aldraiseh, welcome to the forum!

Are you asking a question?

I would understand "in the coming days" and "in the next few days" to mean roughly the same thing, "within the next 3-7 days" perhaps. The statement is vague for a reason, as a specific number of days is unknown. Personally I don't see that "in the next few days" necessarily indicates fewer days than "in the coming days."

Mohammad aldraiseh said:

someday​

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This would not be correct, as "someday" implies a more distant, uncertain time which could be weeks, months or years in the future (or never).

Well, here’s another opinion. For me “in the next few days” is very specific, it means definitely before a week goes by, maybe 3-4 days.

“In coming days” is rare, it is a more literary version of “in the coming days” which is also fairly literary and so, less commonly used. But the meaning is much vaguer, it could mean over the next few days, weeks, months, even years depending on the context (think religious prophecy, which can extend out just as far as believers can be induced to maintain their credulity..)

pachanga7 said:

Well, here’s another opinion. For me “in the next few days” is very specific, it means definitely before a week goes by, maybe 3-4 days.

“In coming days” is rare, it is a more literary version of “in the coming days” which is also fairly literary and so, less commonly used. But the meaning is much vaguer, it could mean over the next few days, weeks, months, even years depending on the context (think religious prophecy, which can extend out just as far as believers can be induced to maintain their credulity..)

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I agree with all of that.

If something very specific is happening in the next week don't use "In the coming days."

Here's an example how I see it. When the first attempt to land on the moon in 1969 was made I picture this difference.

Practical language:
The spacecraft will arrive at the moon in the next few days and go into orbit.

Poetic language:
In the coming days, man will make his first attempt to land on another world.

In the coming days is good for use in describing developing historical events. It's not about a specific, practical amount of time, it's about defining an era. It has an air of the prophetic about it.

Even when it's used more practically it's still not tightly defined. Imagine a big company changing something about its employee policies, including vacation time and other workplace issues. They have a big meeting to announce it to the employees, who are very concerned about it.. They might not give a lot of details right away. But they might say "In the coming days we will explain more about the changes and you will all receive an information packet with more details."

There is no exact time implied. There will probably be multiple times they provide more information. They don't say when the packets will be sent either. But the language indicates it's a new era in the company with these big changes.

Would "in the next few days" mean the same as "in the next days"?

Thanks.

I agree with Kentix. Nothing really "means the same as" in the next days because in the next days does not sound like idiomatic English.

I expect to finish the report in the next few days.
I expect to finish the report in the next days.

Can you tell us, @heybach, where you heard this phrase?

Wordy McWordface said:

Can you tell us, @heybach, where you heard this phrase?

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It's not that I heard it. It's just that I apply the same rule as in:

The next pictures.
The next few pictures.

Both are possible if I'm not mistaken. So that's why I don't understand why the "few" is needed for "days".

"In the next few days" usually means "during the upcoming 2-6 days". It never means 20 days or 200 days.

"In the next days" does not mean that.

For me:

The next pictures.
The next few pictures.

The next set/group of pictures.

dojibear said:

"In the next days" does not mean that.

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So what does it mean then? :-S

heybach said:

So what does it mean then? :-S

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kentix said:

We don't generally say "in the next days" in the US and I'm guessing other places don't either.

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heybach said:

So what does it mean then?

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It does not mean anything. People don't say this.

kentix said:

We don't generally say "in the next days" in the US and I'm guessing other places don't either.

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This particular other place doesn't, no.