authentic expressions

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maoyueh

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May 28, 2011
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Retired English Teacher
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Chinese
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Taiwan
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Taiwan
Please tell me whether the following two sentences are correct or acceptable to native speakers of English. Thanks a lot.

A. He never thought that he had any obligation to do so.
B. He spent (or took) ten minutes to get to the train station.:lol:
 

emsr2d2

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Please tell me whether the following two sentences are correct or acceptable to native speakers of English. Thanks a lot.

A. He never thought that he had any obligation to do so.
That's fine provided it fits whatever the context might be.

B. He spent (or took) ten minutes to get to the train station.
It's not exactly wrong but it sounds unnatural to my ears.
It took him ten minutes to get to the train station.
He took ten minutes getting to the train station.

He spent ten minutes getting to the train station.

:lol:

See above.
 

maoyueh

Member
Joined
May 28, 2011
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
Taiwan
Current Location
Taiwan
See above.

Thank you very much for your help. However, I have one more question. What is the difference in meaning between the following two sentences? Thank you again.

1. He took ten minutes getting to the train station.
2. He took ten minutes to get to the train station.
 
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