Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[reddragon70]

Dear Teachers,

I have learned that the word "every" will be followed by a singular noun like every day, every student, every person, etc. But I've seen many people use "every two weeks" instead of "every two week". Which one is correct? Could you explain?

Thank you very much,

Reddragon

[dragn]

Hi Reddragon70,

Every two week is wrong. Use every two weeks, etc.

You're right about every--it should normally be followed by a singular noun. Using every in an expression of frequency like this does come off looking a bit confusing, I admit.

Think of it this way. When you say every day or every week, you're referring to a day or a week as a single period of time. Well, two weeks is a single period of time, too. It just happens to be twice as long as one week.

In other words, when you say every week, you're saying every single period of time that is one week in length. Similarly, when you say every two weeks, it's like you're saying every single period of time that is two weeks in length. That's pretty much the way we think of it.

Hope this helps.

dragn