expressing from one place/thing to another place/thing "a" o "en" or both?

Question

I know that you can say that something is passed from one generation to another as "transmitiendose de generación en generación" and you can say going from door to door as "ir de puerta en puerta" and you can say something changes from day to day as "cambia de día en día."

My question is this: could "a" be used in place of "en" in some or all of these examples? In other words, could you say the salesman went from door to door as "El vendedor fue de puerta a puerta"?

Answer 1

I would say "El vendedor fue de puerta en puerta." which means that the salesman went from one door to another door and then to another door, etc... trying to sell his product or whatever he sells.

"El vendedor fue de puerta a puerta." this means that the salesman went from one door to another door literally.

The answer, I think, is yes. But those sentences would change. For example:

"Cambia de día en día." it would be "Cambia día a día." o "Cambia a medida que transcurren los días."

The other example(generación en generación, which means from one generation to another and another etc.) I think it could be with "a" "de generación a generación" which means from one generation to another.

I hope I helped.

thanks Cokee. That makes sense. Door to door to door, etc. = puerta en puerta & from one door to (one other) door. But why isn't the same logic applicable to día en día? things change day to day to day? Maybe día en día could mean day after day? - malbecblend, Mar 19, 2015

example: Day after day I keep having to remind you about the same thing. Día en día? Or perhaps just Día tras día? - malbecblend, Mar 19, 2015

i think "día en día" is correct according to the rule, but people dont use this sentence. As I said before I would say "Cambia día a día" or as you just said, "Cambia día tras día", both are correct to me. - cokee, Mar 19, 2015

thanks again. Your explanation really cleared up my question. - malbecblend, Mar 20, 2015