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Norwolf Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Spend to do/ spend doing

#1 I usually spend 20 minutes thinking about what I am doing that day.

#2 How much should the government spend to rebuild the Gulf Coast?

I once learnt the structure like #1 is correct.

And just now I found so many examples like #2 in the COCA, which never appear in most of dictionaries. Is it a grammatical structure?

Would you please tell me the truth?

Thank you very much.
  

Top answer

Can you handle the truth? Both are okay. The infinitive seems to work better with the hypothetical.

— Avangi

  • Can you handle the truth?
  • Both are okay.
  • The infinitive seems to work better with the hypothetical.
  • The participle works better for something which really happens.
  • The government spent a fortune rebuilding the infrastructure.
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7 Answers
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Can you handle the truth? Emotion: big smile

Both are okay. The infinitive seems to work better with the hypothetical. The participle w
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AvangiCan you handle the truth?


Both are okay. The infinitive
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It's not a hard and fast rule. Sometimes they're really interchangeable:
"I just spent ten grand getting my teeth fixed."
"I just spent ten grand to get my teeth fixed."

You might say there's a subtle difference. "To get" seems to focus on the purpose of the expense, while "getting" seems to focus on the manner in which you happened to do it.
The
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norwolf#1 I usually spend 20 minutes thinking about what I am doing that day.

#2 How much should the government spend to rebuild the Gulf Coast?
Spending time is different from spending money. With time, use the -ing form.
Also, to sometimes means in order to.

CJ
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CalifJim Spending time is different from spending money.
Good point!
How much time would be required to rebuild the Gulf Coast?
How much time would be spent rebuilding the Gulf Coast?

He took ten minutes to tie his shoe.
He spent ten minutes tying his shoe.


But I've often heard that wast
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AvangiBut I've often heard that wasting time is wasting money!
I wonder if that applies in the current economy! It seems to me that a lot of people these days, unfortunately, have a great deal more of the former to waste than of the latter.
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Deeply research!

I am learning a lot!

Thank you all, thank you.
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