The days following a given one are the closest, without jumps.
Subsequent is an adjective that is used to describe what follows . The verb to follow , meanwhile, refers to what an element does that immediately follows another .
Consequence or effect
The notion of subsequent usually refers to a temporal succession . Generally what follows is a consequence or an effect of its antecedent. Furthermore, it is important to highlight the immediacy that differentiates what follows from what follows. This can be understood by using an example: the days following Monday are Tuesday, Wednesday, etc., but without skipping any and starting with the one directly next, of the same week; The following, however, are not necessarily defined in this way, but rather encompass the future seen from that day.
How can we, therefore, use both words in the most appropriate way? Let's think about a person who begins a research project to write a book; If we specify the first day of his work and say "over the next few days he scoured all the libraries in his city in search of new sources," it means that no more than 24 hours passed before he went to the first one, and that He maintained this rhythm until the story indicates otherwise.
On the other hand, saying that "the following days were filled with intense work, little sleep, and ideas that overlapped," we can well understand that there was some pause in the middle of the process, which did not continue without any rest, but neither did more than a week pass. without doing it. Let's say that the word "subsequent" gives us the idea of individual elements directly linked to the first , while "following" speaks more of the group, of everything that came after.
Some examples
Take the case of a civil war in a country. These clashes have an immediate impact : the death of a large number of people who participate in the fighting or who are collateral victims of it. When the violence stops, deaths due to armed struggle stop occurring, but other problems emerge, such as difficulties in the field of the economy. It can be stated, in this framework, that the community must prepare to face the subsequent economic crisis .
Let's now see what happens with an international sporting event that, based on an arrangement by the organizers, will begin to be held when the summer begins. It can be said that the competition will be launched simultaneously with the start of the summer season, which brings with it the subsequent increase in temperatures . In conclusion, those who participate in the competition must suffer the heat typical of the season.
Subsequent elements relate directly to the first and to each other.
Another example: if a teacher announces to his students that he will explain a certain topic in the three subsequent classes , he is informing what the focus of the next educational meetings will be. The students, in this way, become aware of the topic of the next three classes that they will have with the teacher. In this case, the use of the word "subsequent" could be optional, replaced instead by "following", although there is a nuance that explains the differences between the two.
If the classes in which the teacher announces that he will explain the topic in question were not related in any way to the current one, then they should be grouped under the following adjective: they would simply be those that come after this one, but they would not be part of a group or a stage. On the other hand, if in the current one you develop an introduction to the topic, you give the students the tools for its correct study, then it is more correct to talk about subsequent classes , because these detach from the first and all become necessary for the group .