cost or costing? anyone

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mektok

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:) Hi to all beloved teachers..
Happy belated New Year!
I have a few questions:
When do we use these two words: the costing and the cost?
Is this correct:
1. The costing list is also included in your file OR the cost list is also..
2. The estimated cost is about 1000 pounds Sterling OR the costing involved is about 1000 pounds Sterling

Kind regards
 

Grumpy

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The "cost" of something is the price to be paid for it. "Costing" generally refers to the process by which one decides on what the cost is going to be [although in some contexts it can also mean the price paid, for example, "I bought two apples, each costing me 50 pence"].

Taking your two questions:

1. If the list includes details of how the price of each item has been calculated, it will be a "Costing List". If it is simply a list of prices, it will be a "Cost List".

2. Again, it depends on how much detail is included, but (assuming only one value is quoted) the correct usage is "estimated cost".
 

probus

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Costing as a present participle has the meaning given by Grumpy.

Costing as a noun has a technical meaning to accountants and manufacturers and should not be used in everyday speech. "The costing involved" is wrong. You should say "the cost involved."
 
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Winwin2011

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The "cost" of something is the price to be paid for it. "Costing" generally refers to the process by which one decides on what the cost is going to be [although in some contexts it can also mean the price paid, for example, "I bought two apples, each costing me 50 pence"].

Is it correct to say "I bought two apples, it cost me 50 pence each."?

Thanks.
 

SoothingDave

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The "cost" of something is the price to be paid for it. "Costing" generally refers to the process by which one decides on what the cost is going to be [although in some contexts it can also mean the price paid, for example, "I bought two apples, each costing me 50 pence"].

Is it correct to say "I bought two apples, it cost me 50 pence each."?



Thanks.

They cost me 50 pence each.

Don't confuse price with cost. If you are in business a list of your product's prices is not the same as a list of the costs associated with each.
 

hetzer

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They cost me 50 pence each - Is this correct?
Isn't it better to say " Each of them costs me 50 pence." or "It costs me 50 pence each."?

Sorry for putting my nose...
 

probus

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As a teacher of English you should understand how very easy it is to say things that may be understandable and grammatically correct, but that immediately mark the speaker as a non-native and less than fluent speaker. A moment's thought about foreigners trying to speak Japanese should make this obvious.

"They cost me 50 pence each" is natural; in other words it is something a fluent speaker might well say. The same cannot be said of either of your two examples.
 
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hetzer

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Thank you very much.

I keep what you write in my mind.
 
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