This one's really for Bitt, but I'm sure everyone else will chime in, as well.

Which of the following phrases is correct (and why):
"all of a sudden"
or
"all of the sudden".

I know which one *I* think is correct, but there still seems to be some doubt in some peoples' minds, even after pointing them here, which is the best I could find on the 'net.

Any better explanations out there?

Well, I'm no english major, but me thinks that among these two, neither are gramatically write.

I guess it all depends on whether "sudden" is definate or indefinate. I'd be inclined to think it is indefinate, merely indicating "a" "sudden," since there is no need to differentiate which "sudden" is being referred to. Moreover, it would not be correct to use a definate article before introducing this particular "sudden." A similar phrase would be "In an instant."


Examine this passage: "I was engulfed by AN enormous crowd of people. Suddenly, out of THE crowd, stepped A man. THE man inexplicably informed me that you needed to quit obsessing over trivial. Furthermore, he called you AN "unholy inbred dogfaced mucklicker" and that your "dastardly dingleberry-snorting ways are despicable and distasteful."

Change any one of the those articles, and the passage is no longer coherent.


Common usage is "All of A sudden," but many people use the other phrase. I think "All of THE sudden" is more akin to "I COULD care less." Of course, outside of the States, I reckon every colloquialism may be bottomside-upards.

-Biscuits

I guess it all depends on whether "sudden" is definate or indefinate.

I saw something along this line in a short, short blurb somewhere. I tend to agree with it.

Common usage is "All of A sudden," but many people use the other phrase.

I'd never actually heard the other phrase until today, and did a search on the web. The funny thing was the people use both versions in the same piece of writing! The "all of a sudden" idiom dates back to the late 1800's, if not earlier. I couldn't find anything to date when the other phrase started showing up.

Cheers,


(Why the heck am I up at 1AM posting messages about idioms gone awry?)

Common usage is "All of A sudden," but many people use the other phrase.

We have a word for those people: wrong.

According to my mother, an editor for National Geographic Magazine, the correct phrase is:

"All of a sudden. Believe it or not, the phrase is in Webster's Third
International Dictionary, meaning 'sooner than expected.'"

I would have to agree. If the sudden was definite therefore requiring the "the", then it wouldn't really warrant the statement.

Edit: By the way, just saying "Suddenly, ...." is much cleaner to hear or read.

As other people said, using ``the'' would imply that there was only one ``sudden'', which seems silly.

However, it's all irrelevant anyway, since it's a colloquialism (it's listed in M-W as one) and all bets are off when they crop up.