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What are you going to do afterwards?
What are you going to do after?

Which one is the correct one and why?

Jim
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LouisTremont
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    Why do you assume there must be a single correct answer between those two? Why not zero correct answers, or two correct answers? Actual language is not some Manichæan cybernightmare forever funnelled into an exclusive-ᴏʀ conditional test. It is far more variant and nuanced than any of that. Furthermore, you should please present your prior research on the difference between after and afterwards, preferably citing reliable dictionary sources, and then your own ideas about what’s right and why you think that. Otherwise your question will likely be closed as off-topic proofreading. – tchrist Jun 23 '14 at 16:13
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    @tchrist: C'mon, you know why. It's because some people teach other people to pass tests instead of to understand the language. And the way they do that is by teaching them the One Right Answer. And then they grow up only knowing how to pass one kind of test with one kind of answer and wonder why they don't understand. – John Lawler Jun 23 '14 at 17:55
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    there is also the possibility of using "afterward" without the "s". – KnightHawk Jun 23 '14 at 18:18
  • @tchrist Er... why not a lighter touch??? – Araucaria - Him Jun 23 '14 at 22:35
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    @tchrist Why do you think I'm asking on here? I wasn't sure whether both were correct or not. Was it so hard to answer my question like "Araucaria" and "Vilmar did it? – LouisTremont Jun 24 '14 at 02:22
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    @LouisTremont 1. Because you presented no research nor hypotheses or your own; all such questions are subject to being closed for lack of context and effort. 2. because it is significantly harder to answer a vague question lacking focus than you give credit. Who knows what you know or don’t know, or what you are thinking? We certainly do not. All questions formulated “Which is correct, X or Y?” without further elaboration are off-topic proofreading questions. You seem to expect effort from answerers, yet fail to recognize that effort — due diligence — is also expected of questioners. – tchrist Jun 27 '14 at 22:41

2 Answers2

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What are you going to do afterwards?

What are you going to do after?

Both of these are fine. The first would be more common in formal written English. Both are common in spoken English. However, the two words afterwards and after are not interchangeable. The preposition afterwards is intransitive and doesn't take a complement.

  1. I’ll see you afterwards.
  2. *I’ll see you afterwards the concert. (wrong)
  3. *I’ll see you afterwards the concerts starts. (wrong)
  4. *I’ll see you afterwards of the concert. (wrong)

In the first example, we observe afterwards occurring with no complement. In the incorrect examples 2–6, we see it occurring with a noun phrase, a finite clause and a prepositional phrase respectively. Because afterwards cannot take a complement, these three examples are all badly formed.

Because afterwards is intransitive, many people will describe it as an adverb. We know, though, that it isn’t: most adverbs can be modified by the degree adverb very. Afterwards can not:

  • It happened very slowly.
  • *It happened very afterwards. (wrong)

Furthermore, prepositions can often be modified by the words straight and right. Adverbs cannot:

  • *It happened right slowly. (wrong)
  • *It happened straight slowly. (wrong)
  • It happened right afterwards.
  • It happened straight afterwards.

The first two examples here show the adverb slowly being modified by right and straight. The examples are badly formed. The last two examples, however, are fine. Together with the data further above, this demonstrates that afterwards is an intransitive preposition — meaning a preposition which doesn’t take a complement.

After, contrastingly, is a preposition which can take noun phrases and finite clauses as complements:

  • I’ll see you after the concert.
  • I’ll see you after the concert starts.

For some speakers, after can also be intransitive (take no complement):

  • I’ll see you after.

The acceptability of this seems to be increased when the preposition is being modified:

  • I’ll see you straight after.

Some speakers prefer afterwards for intransitive uses. There is no doubt though that many speakers readily also use after without a complement.

In answer to the question then, when used in this way without a complement, both afterwards and after are correct — but some speakers may look more kindly upon the first sentence.

Community
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Araucaria - Him
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    I’m not convinced that having “intransitive prepositions” improves the analysis. The simple matter is that not all things tagged this or that part of speech truly fall into the same category, and deictic adverbs are just one of them. Adverb is at times something of a “none of the above” category in English, and a poor one at that; see also this answer to the question What exactly is an “adverb”?. – tchrist Jun 27 '14 at 22:35
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    @tchrist Thanks for the edit. However, please never ever edit a post to stick in a link to Wikipedia! If you want a good guide to prepositions, you could do worse than consulting CeGEL or Oxford Modern English Grammar. I've been planning an answer for the adverb question for a while. Nice post, but I don't agree with the general approach at all! Incidentally, the arguments in CeGEL are pretty insurmountable, and stacked to the hilt with hard evidence and well reasoned arguments. They require a bit more to undermine them than tagging observations... :) – Araucaria - Him Jun 27 '14 at 23:12
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    @tchrist Also, thanks, but please don't put shouty WRONG next to my examples. Personally, it just looks and reads like an agressive obsevation. (Why good linguistics journals would never use it...) – Araucaria - Him Jun 27 '14 at 23:15
  • Well, you had “(wrong)” there. I’m not convinced it is necessary, and would rather see it struck out myself. If you feel the readership doesn’t understand asterisks, a footnote explaining them seems sufficient. – tchrist Jun 27 '14 at 23:25
  • I don't think your rule for adverbs holds up. There are spatial and temporal adverbs, most of which cannot be preceded by the word very. The word afterward(s) is an adverb, as are the words here, now, tonight, there, et cetera. – ktm5124 Oct 10 '16 at 19:04
  • @ktm5124 What you have just discovered is that these words are not adverbs but prepositions!!! :-) (apart from tonight which is a noun phrase). – Araucaria - Him Oct 12 '16 at 11:18
  • @Araucaria Not according to any dictionary, or any source apart from you, to my knowledge, so you would have to do much more to convince me :) – ktm5124 Oct 12 '16 at 17:54
  • @ktm5124 Ah. See here for why you should never rely on dictionaries for parts of speech!. – Araucaria - Him Oct 12 '16 at 19:32
  • @ktm5124 See here for some modern grammar 127-148 – Araucaria - Him Oct 12 '16 at 23:13
  • CD actually labels this usage (outside a multi-word adverb phrase) 'not standard' rather than 'informal': << after: ... later than someone or something else: ... [not standard]: She got back at 4.30 and went to see Emilie after (= 'after she got back') >> – Edwin Ashworth May 06 '23 at 11:02
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Afterwards is more commonly used as an adverb, but after can be used as one as well. From Cambridge Dictionaries Online:

We can use after as an adverb, but afterwards is more common. When after is used, it is usually as part of an adverb phrase:

  • They lived happily ever after. (means ‘for ever’)

  • She had an operation on her leg and afterwards was unable to walk for at least a month.

In your example afterwards would be a more common choice, but after is OK as well.

Community
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Vilmar
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  • CD actually labels this usage (outside a multi-word adverb phrase) 'not standard': <<after: ... later than someone or something else: ... [not standard]: She got back at 4.30 and went to see Emilie after (= 'after she got back') >> – Edwin Ashworth May 06 '23 at 10:59