Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
after (adv.)
Some purists have argued that after, meaning “afterward,” should never be used except with a modifying adverb: My ankle got better quickly, but my shoulder pained me long after. (Long after is Standard.) The Irish dialectal I was after going to the store means “I had gone to the store” or “I was about to go to the store.”
