following用作形容词表示“接着的”，与定冠词the连用，表示“下述的”。the following作主语时,谓语动词可用单数也可用复数。
1.following的意思
adj. 后面的，其次的,下列的,顺风的
n. 崇拜者，拥护者,下列，如下,跟随,随球
prep. 随后，在…以后
v. 跟随，接着(follow的现在分词)
2.following的用法及例句
following用作形容词的基本意思是“接着的”,与定冠词the连用可作“下述的”解。
the following作主语时,谓语动词既可用单数形式,也可用复数形式。 动词用单数还是复数取决于后面谈及人、事物的单复数) 下述；下列；
following也可作顺船的方向“吹〔流〕的”。
a following wind
顺风
The following wind and eastward running tide had given us a very pleasant, lazy sail.
顺风和向东的潮水使我们的航行很惬意、很省力。
例句：
The following is a summary of events.
现将重大事件综述如下。
The following have been chosen to take part: Watts, Hodges and Lennox.
已选定下列人员参加：沃茨、霍奇斯和伦诺克斯。
he following day the picture appeared on the front pages of every newspaper in the world.
第二天照片出现在全世界所有报纸的头版。
The following item is a piano solo by Jackson.下一个节目是杰克逊表演的钢琴独奏。
It rained on the day we arrived, but the following day was sunny.我们到达的那天正下雨，但次日天气晴朗。
Please choose from the following three selections.请从下列的三个选择中选择。
On behalf of my Government I have the honour to make to you the followingcommunications.
我荣幸地代表我国政府向您转达如下内容。《汉英大词典》
Answer the following questions.
回答下列问题。
We went to dinner the following Monday evening
接下来那个周一的晚上，我们一起去吃了晚餐。
The following year she joined the Royal Opera House.
次年她加入了皇家歌剧院。
也可以表示：（时间上）接着的
the following afternoon/month/year/week
第二天下午；第二个月；第二年；第二周
They arrived on Monday evening and we got there the following day.
他们是星期一晚上到的，我们次日也抵达那里。
I had already missed my flight, and the next one wasn’t until the following morning
我已经错过了我的航班，下一班飞机得等到明天早晨。
《柯林斯高阶英汉双解学习词典》
（多么美妙的表达啊，在正常的表达句子里加上not until就能表达“得等到”的含义）
介词
在（某事）以后；由于
He took charge of the family business following his father’s death.
父亲死后他就接管了家族企业。
I remember nothing else about the days following Daddy’s death
父亲去世之后那几天我不记得有什么其他事了。
