following

following
following
has long been used as a participial adjective either qualifying a noun, as in for the following reasons, or by itself as a quasi-noun, as in The following are my reasons. From this has developed a use of following as a quasi-preposition independent of any noun:

• Used car prices are going up, following the Budget —Observer, 1968.

This use was not a problem for Fowler (1926) but Gowers (1965) condemned it in cases where the connection between the two events is ‘merely temporal’ and the preposition after would serve. In the example just given, there is a strong element of consequence, and so the use of following is perhaps justified, but this is not so in the example that follows, in which after could have been used with no loss of meaning:

• Following the meeting it was decided a group of five or six representatives from Acklam will regularly meet with council officers to discuss the issues and the way forward —Evening Gazette, 2007.

In some cases there is even a possibility of ambiguity with other meanings of following: Police have arrested a man following extensive inquiries.

Modern English usage. 2014.

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