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Here is the question,

Exploration of the Solar System is (continuing) and at the present rate of (progress) all the planets will have been contacted (within) the (near) 50 years.

One of words in the brackets has to be corrected. But I can't sniff out which one is wrong. Please help me out

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Here's a clue.  It's "near".  But how to correct it?  Any ideas?

Jeff_999 · Answer

I am afraid I still have no idea :-s

Why 'near'? Can't near be equated with about here? You see,
"within the 50 years" "within the about 50 years" "within the near 50 years".

Mister Micawber · Answer

Nope.  'Near' when it means 'about' is a preposition, not an adjective.

Tommyensr · Answer

Exploration of the Solar System is (continuing) and at the present rate of (progress) all the planets will have been contacted (within) the ((*next)) 50 years.

just my opinion

note: because "within" is (prep.) + (noun)
"near" is mean "about" (adv.)
"next" is mean near (adj.)
so, next(adj.)+ years(noun) is ok

CalifJim · Answer

"next" is a good answer.

Jeff_999 · Answer

Thank you all.

Actually, the answer doesn't matter. I know the answer. But I just don't know why. :-s

And as Mr. Micawber pointed out when near means 'about' is a preposition, not an adjective, I exposed all my weak points. I even don't know the difference between them.
Now I'm going to flood you some questions.

Near,
"We're planning to move to Australia in the near future."
What part of speech is near classified to? Sounds like what 'near' functions here is exactly the same as it does in the original guestion.

About,
"Today there are about 900,000 American Indians."
I see about is kinda like approximately, so it's adv. here. But what I don't get is which word 'about' is modifying. (Seems a tricky here).
And how come it works here, but not in the sentence I gave in the original post?

Next
When next is used as a adj, it can be roughly taken as 'following' I think. Eg. 'the next week' means 'the following week'.
Here the question is, if context indicates that it'll happen in the following 50 years, Ok, 'next' may work perfectly.
But what if we want to describe it's approximately 50 years (not exactly, but closely)??

(Sorry, I could't organize my post better, But I tried my best. Hope you can understad. And please give me some example while you're explaining it, or else, I will still have no clue. So, Please.)

CalifJim · Answer

"We're planning to move to Australia in the near future." "near" is an adjective.
"Today there are about 900,000 American Indians." "about" modifies 900,000. Yes, it means "approximately".
Next: Yes, it can be taken as "following", which it does in the original post.

If you want to describe it as approximately, you can say "within about 50 years".

With a number of years or months or days, etc., the expressions are

within the next X [years / months / ... ]
within the [past / previous] X [ years / months / ... ]

It's a little like pages in a book. Suppose we're looking at page 45 in a book.
I can say, "You'll find the answer within the next five pages".
I can say, "You'll find the answer within the previous five pages."
But I can't say "You'll find the answer within the near five pages."

"near" just can't function that way. You can't say, "Look at the near five buildings", "Find the near three mistakes", "Get the near ten packages". "near" is incompatible with a number. "near" is a word which expresses something indefinite. A number is exact.

CJ

Jeff_999 · Answer

[D]Got it! Thank you.

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