Spend time etc doing something

Question

Hello,Please help. According to the textbooks or dictionaries I have read, 'spend time' must go with a gerund. For example: "She spent all her free time painting."So are all the following sentences wrong?#1. She spent all her free time in order to ensure ...#2. It shows the average run time spent to compute ....Thank you,VUSHCM

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

#1 is OK.  #2 is not.

Vushcm · Answer

Dear Mister Micawber,

I have seen a statement somewhere within this forum saying that if the sentence is written with a 'why' context (i.e., for a reason), we ought to use 'spend time + to". So is the below sentence gramatically sound?

"Sometimes, you need to spend your precious time to catch .... " - (the reason is to catch)

If it is not all right grammatically, must we add 'in order' to make it acceptable as you previously commented (i.e., #1 is OK)?

By the way, I have not been able to find a textbook that supports 'spend time to do something' structure.

Thanks,
VUSHCM

Mister Micawber · Answer

I don't remember that thread, but 'spend time to...' sounds very odd to me, and if I were tempted to use it, I would certainly include 'in order'.

Anonymous · Answer

Good question. The rule spend time. Notice that there is a difference in meaning.

She spent all her free time painting.
Painting tells us how she spent her time.
She spent all her free time engaged in the act of painting.

It shows the average run time spent to compute...

To compute tells us why the time was spent.
It shows the average run time spent for the purpose of computing...

These are two different grammatical structures.

I'm not completely sure about the first one. It's late, I'm tired, and I don't feel like going upstairs to get my grammar books, but off the top of my head I would call it an adjectival subject complement. Cf: *She, painting, spent all her free time.

The third one is simply an infinitive of purpose, comparable to The money was spent to buy groceries.

As for the second one: She spent all her free time in order to ensure....In order to ensure is another infinitive of purpose.

This sentence sounds incomplete. You need to say something like: She spent all her free time writing letters to heads of state in order to ensure the release of the political prisoners. Perhaps in context, you could leave out the activity: She maintained a voluminous correspondance with heads of state. She spent all her free time to ensure the release of the political prisoners. However, She maintained a voluminous correspondance with heads of state. She spent all her free time working to ensure the release of the political prisoners. sounds better.

Linguist and retired ESL teacher

Spend time etc doing something

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