Why is prochain incorrect?

Question

Jeudi, elle a un rendez-vous. -Tu veux dire ce jeudi ou ________ ?

A bit puzzled.. I answered this with le jeudi prochain and marked as incorrect.. wanted le jeudi d'après..but checking in Linguee.. it gives prochain in its examples.

Accepted Answer

Hi Mark,
When to use 'suivant' and not 'prochain' is quite tricky and this is a very common mistake made by English speakers.
In temporal terms you will use 'prochain' when you mean 'next' in relation to today: 
jeudi prochain = next Thursday 
which is 12th August ( today being  Saturday 7th August).
 
la semaine prochaine = week beginning 9th August in relation to today 
but you will say

'la semaine suivante' for week beginning 16th August ...

In the example situation ( in an unknown time frame), you will use 'suivant -
... ce jeudi ou le jeudi suivant = ... this Thursday or the following Thursday 
Or
... le jeudi d'après 
which are both accepted.
 
Hope this helps!

Answer

Deleted. Already answered by Cécile.

Answer

Hello Cécile.. thank you for the clarification of when to use suivant.. but, if I am getting this right.. you are agreeing that jeudi prochain would be correct in the context of this or next.. as the time frame is properly defined.. but my problem is that Kwiziq has marked that answer incorrect and demanded d'après... if there is a this Thursday, ce jeudi, jeudi prochain has to mean next Thursday.. which is what I am trying to say.. otherwise, if it is Monday, when is jeudi prochain?

Answer

Hi Mark,I deleted my previous offer because I thought that Cécile had covered all of the options.However, if we were to write "prochain jeudi" this would mean the following Thursday as in a series of Thursdays going forward.Prochain can be used on either side of the day and changes the meaning.Hope this helps.Jim

Answer

Thanks Jim.. clearly I am expressing myself poorly.. if it is Monday and I say "ce jeudi et le jeudi prochain " does or does that not mean this Thursday(3days) and next Thursday? (10days).. and, if wrong, what does it mean?

Answer

You don't use the article with jeudi. The definite article is only used when specifying every Thursday (i.e., Thursdays)

Answer

Hi Mark,
I am really not sure of the distinction you are making. In the question, it can only be 'suivant' or 'd'après' and the English was -
this Thursday or the following one? 
 ( to help you) 
 
It is a bit the same as with yesterday and the day before. When telling a story you will not use 'yesterday' but the day before which could have been two weeks ago as clearly 'yesterday' is yesterday, a point in real-time in relation to 'today'.
 Hope this helps!