during january 1-3

[kvvic]

Dear all,

I'm editing a translation and would appreciate your opinion about the preposition 'during' in the sentence below.

Mr. X is supposed to come to the city of Y to take part in the negotiations during January 1-3.

My feeling is that although the meaning is probably clear, it's not the right word to use here. Could you please confirm or deny it?

 

[susiedq]

It is not clear what you want to say.

Is Mr. x coming to the city Jan 1 - 3?

Or do the negotiations last Jan 1 - 3 and he will take part in them during that time?

Mr. X is supposed to come to the city of Y to take part in the negotiations sometime between January 1-3.

 

[kvvic]

What is meant is that the negotiations will take place from Jan 1 through 3, and Mr. X is supposed be present on each of these days.
Should it be like this?

Mr. X is supposed to come to the city of Y to take part in the negotiations on January 1-3.

 

[billmcd]

Dear all,

I'm editing a translation and would appreciate your opinion about the preposition 'during' in the sentence below.

My feeling is that although the meaning is probably clear, it's not the right word to use here. Could you please confirm or deny it?

Yes, I agree. I would not use any word as, ".....negotiations January 1-3" or "during the period January 1-3".

 

[kvvic]

Thanks for your comments, Susiedq and Billmcd.
I'd like to modify a little bit my question. Initially, I thought that 'during' is never used in such expressions as 'during January 1-3' and so on, but Google gives a lot of hits for such combinations. So I'd like to understand the meaning of such phrases.
Does 'during', e.g., in the phrase 'during March 10-15' emphasize that the author is talking not only about days but also about nights of this period?

 

[billmcd]

Thanks for your comments, Susiedq and Billmcd.
I'd like to modify a little bit my question. Initially, I thought that 'during' is never used in such expressions as 'during January 1-3' and so on, but Google gives a lot of hits for such combinations. So I'd like to understand the meaning of such phrases.
Does 'during', e.g., in the phrase 'during March 10-15' emphasize that the author is talking not only about days but also about nights of this period?

It doesn't have that meaning for me. "During" with the dash ( - ) between 10 and 15 is redundant. I might be able to live with "during the period March 10-15".

 

[kvvic]

billmcd
Thanks again for your explanations.

 

[kvvic]

Just to improve my understanding.
Let's make the original sentence clearer:

Mr. X is supposed to come to the city of Y during January 1-3.

As far as I understand from the posts above, there's something wrong with the use of 'during' in this sentence. Is it because of grammatical or some other reasons?

 

[billmcd]

Just to improve my understanding.
Let's make the original sentence clearer:As far as I understand from the posts above, there's something wrong with the use of 'during' in this sentence. Is it because of grammatical or some other reasons?

Ref. susiedq's response and also if there is such a rule, I'm not aware of it, but I would think that "during" suggests a broad or general period of time (e.g. during January/during the week of September 5th/during World War II etc.) and if used as in your example, I would prefer to see the statement read as, "during the period January 1st to 3rd" or as posted by susiedq.

 

[kvvic]

And what about:

Mr. X is supposed to come to the city of Y on January 1-3.

Will it be incorrect to use 'on' before this period?

 

[billmcd]

And what about:
Will it be incorrect to use 'on' before this period?

Use of "on" would be a reference to one specific date.

 

[kvvic]

So the use of 'on' in the above sentence is incorrect. Actually I also know that 'on' refers to one date but I saw many examples where 'on' was used as follows:

...prizes, cameras and toys await the winners of the Boots Northern Ireland Children of the Year competition to be held on the 7-11th of September.

Don't forget to visit the Yarn Fair for London, the South and South East at the Old Loom Mill, to be held on 17–20 September.

On Jan. 25 a debate in the Assembly of Bosnia-Hercegovina ... endorsed a referendum on the republic's sovereignty to be held on Feb. 29-March 1.

These sentences are from the British National Corpus (some newspapers), which means they are supposed to be correct.
Is 'on' here also used incorrectly? Or is there some difference between the way 'on' is used in these sentences and in mine?

 

[5jj]

These sentences are from the British National Corpus (some newspapers), which means they are supposed to be correct.

No it doesn't. It simply means they have been used. I don't usually go to newspapers for examples of good writing.

'On' is undoubtedly used in the way that you note. Most of us do not consider that to be correct. As you wrote in your first post, "My feeling is that although the meaning is probably clear, it's not the right word to use here."

 

[kvvic]

Could you please correct one of the above sentences to give me an example of how you would express the same idea?

 

[5jj]

susiedq and billmcd have already made suggestions, above, for this type of situation.

 

[kvvic]

As far as I understand, the correct ways would be:
1. Don't forget to visit the Yarn Fair for London, the South and South East at the Old Loom Mill, to be held 17–20 September.
As per susiedq's suggestion.
2. Don't forget to visit the Yarn Fair for London, the South and South East at the Old Loom Mill, to be held during the period 17 to 20 September.
As per billmcd's suggestion.
3. Don't forget to visit the Yarn Fair for London, the South and South East at the Old Loom Mill, to be held from 17 to 20 September.
My option.
Are all these sentences correct? Is No.1 not too informal?