City University of Hong Kong CLASS CLASS
Making Sense of Grammar
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asked Oct 21, 2020 in Questions about English Grammar by Ariel (34,480 points) | 1,088 views

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经由时空转换,in可用来标记“在某时间范围内”,如:in April,in 1949。除了这些专有时间范畴外,in也可用于标示任何“一段时间范畴之内”的概念,如:in a week,in a month,in a year:

I finished the homework in an hour. →一个小时之内完成的

另一介系词for似乎也可表示“一段时间”,如:

I’ve stayed here for three days. →在这待了三天

到底in和for有何不同?还记得in的空间原型是“在范畴内”,强调“界限范畴”(boundary);而for则是标记“一段持续的时间”,强调“持续时程”(duration)。来比较一下两者的不同:

He will be here in 5 minutes. →5分钟之内会到这(界限范围)

He will be here for 5 minutes. →会待在这5分钟(持续时间)

我会在半小时内结束演讲,然后会有10分钟回答问题:

I will finish my talk in 30 minutes, and will answer questions for 10 minutes.

——劉美君. (2012). 英文文法有道理! 重新認識英文文法觀念. 聯經.

answered Oct 21, 2020 by Ariel (34,480 points)

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