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[Google ngrams]enter image description here I'd like to know what are the grammatical differences between both structures, as well as one or the other predominates for days and weeks. enter image description here

GJC
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  • Related: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/252173/indefinite-articles-used-with-plural-nouns-it-was-an-amazing-two-days – herisson Sep 25 '20 at 18:16
  • I wonder if this has to do with preserving the construction "two weeks notice." One would say "an additional two weeks notice" but not "two additional weeks notice." – d_b Sep 25 '20 at 18:20
  • If you swap 'three' for 'two' in all these phrases, you get graphs that are far closer. And 'an additional four days' has outperformed 'four additional days' on occasion. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 25 '20 at 18:26
  • @d_b For me it's uncountable, either two weeks' notice or two-week notice. Yet I just found two-weeks' notice https://www.wordreference.com/definition/notice – GJC Sep 25 '20 at 18:34
  • @EdwinAshworth any reason why further behaves differently? https://i.imgur.com/v0bmvO1.jpeg – GJC Sep 27 '20 at 08:46
  • It's simple writer's choice. Which "sounds" best depends on other words in the context. – Hot Licks Sep 27 '20 at 12:28

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