When you talk about time, you can use spend and take. We talked about take a few weeks ago. The meaning is the same but the way we use these words is different.
When we use spend, we usually put the person using the time as the subject of the sentence.
- Jack said he spent an hour in traffic going to work.
- Jen spends about three hours when she makes homemade bread.
When we use take, we usually use it as the subject. As you know, it is used as the subject of the sentence when we take about time:
- Jack said it took an hour in traffic going to work.
- Jen said it takes about three hours to make homemade bread.
Be careful! We don’t use the subject I with took:
- I took about three hours to make homemade bread.
Keep in mind the best way to remember this or any vocabulary in English is to take the word or phrase write it in a sentence that’s true for you or true in your world and then memorize your sentences.
You can even take your sentences and write them in the comments below. I would love to see your examples. And if you really want help with vocabulary, sign up for my free vocabulary workshop (see below).
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