Usage of the article for "year-end"

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi,

I read the following blue sentence in the media. I feel that there should be an article before ‘year-end’. I googled the term and found many sentences with no articles before terms such as ‘year-end’ , quarter-end, etc. I also found sentences using ‘subsequent to the end of the year’ where the author have used ‘the’ before ‘end of the year’. Could you explain the logic behind this difference?

[color=blue]Subsequent to year-end, the company decided to ….

Thanks,

MG.

2

Hi Musicgold

The word “year-end” is probably used most often as an adjective.
The noun “year-end” can also be used with the article “the”. It typically refers to a certain recurring date (often the end of a fiscal year). It can thus be used very specifically or in a more generic sort of way. “Year-end” also tends to be used similarly to the way the name of a date is used, and that may be the main reason it is very often used as a noun without the article “the”. For example:

  • By Thanksgiving/year-end, we will have doubled our LY figures.
  • We didn’t notice the glitch until after Christmas/year-end.
    .
3

Amy,

Thanks.