Is the sentence grammartically correct?

[Chris_Wang]

Here is a sentence
I have been to Harbin for ten times.
Shall we plus "for" in front of the times?
Or we can say I have been to harbin ten times?
Which is correct? Or both of them are O.K.?

[JMurray]

Chris.
"I have been to Harbin ten times" is correct.
".. for ten times" is not correct.

not a teacher

[TheParser]

Here is a sentence
I have been to Harbin for ten times.
Shall we plus "for" in front of the times?
Or we can say I have been to harbin ten times?
Which is correct? Or both of them are O.K.?

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Teacher Wang,


(1) Member JMurray has given you and me an excellent answer.

(2) May I add some comments?

(3) You probably want a "rule" in case your students ask you.

Am I right?

(4) I think that I found a "rule" in A Comprehensive Grammar of

the English Language.

(5) As you know, the adverbs in bold are adverbs of frequency

(how often you do something):

I have often been to Harbin.
I have never been to Harbin.
I have occasionally been to Harbin.

(6) Sometimes in English, we do not use an adverb. We use a

noun phrase.

(7) When we use a noun phrase for frequency (how often you

do something), the book gives this "rule":

Use every/ each + a noun (hour, day, year, etc.)

Use a quantifier or numeral (several, four) + times.

Do NOT use a preposition (such as for).

So we could say:

I have been to Harbin four times.

I have visited Harbin every month this year.

I have gone to Harbin each year since 1990.

(8) It seems that times is a very special word. If you use

the word occasion, then you DO use a preposition:

I have been to Harbin on four occasions.

(NOT: I have been to Harbin four occasions.)

(9) Here are some more examples from that book:

(a) She has been to Singapore once. ( = one + time)

(b) I visit England three times a year.

(c) I perform operations three days each week.

(d) Meetings take place weekly. ( = once [one time] a week)

(e) Each summer I spend my vacation in Bermuda.

*****

I wish to credit:

Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, Jan Svartvik,

A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (London and

New York: Longman, 1985).