The definite noun phrase the following examples contains enough information for the reader to identify which examples are being talked about. The examples that the definite noun phrase refers to are the ones that are about to be mentioned.
Which of the following statements is grammatically incorrect? And why? (I don't know the answer. Ignore the marks) Meats and vegetables are so expensive these days. We'd better eat out. I'd rather go
As far as the soup in the sentence, it was likely good, as much as to introduce the rest of the meal, to be its announcer. When ' to follow ' is replaced with the plain ' following ' it does not describe the feeling of being unrealized yet anticipated the ' to follow ' indicates.
In your context, " let's meet this Monday " certainly refers to July 31st. However, " let's meet next Monday " might mean either July 31st, or August 7th. If it were not clear from context which of these were intended, the listener might ask "Do you mean this coming Monday, the 31st, or the Monday after that, the 7th?".