>If you look in the almanac, you will see that the earth rotates on its axis
>once in 23 hours, 56 minutes, and a few seconds.  However, as we all know,
>the day is 24 hours long.  So what happens to the four minutes????

If you multiply 4 minutes by 365 you will get 1460 minutes
which is really 1440 minutes or one day.
(4 minutes is approximate)

This is the day that you lose or gain depending on whether
you think that a rotation of the earth is achieved when it
reaches the same position relative to the sun or to the stars.
The difference is one day every year.
Do I make myself clear?
A sketch would help but I don't have a chalkboard here.