pattern · neutral

spend + time + V-ing

Band 6-7speakingtask2

to use a period of time doing something

Examples

“I spend a lot of time preparing lesson plans at the weekend.”

“They spent three hours discussing the proposal.”

“Students often spend too much time checking details and not enough time drafting.”

Band 8 sentence

“In my gap year I spent several months volunteering abroad, which taught me more about cultural sensitivity than any classroom could.”

Collocations

  • spend time + V-ing (spend time learning)
  • spend hours + V-ing

Word family

spend (v) verbtime (n) noun

Common mistakes

I spend time to study every night.→I spend time studying every night.

She spent many time reading.→She spent a lot of time reading.

Say it for a higher band

5try to + V→6spend time to + V→7+spend + time + V-ing

Synonyms

devote time to V-ing

Easily confused

devote time to + V-ing

“She devoted many hours to researching the topic.”

Related words

look forward to + V-ingtry + V-ing / try to + Vfor + somebody + to + Vavoid + V-ingbe likely to + Vbegin / start + V-ing / to + Vprevent + somebody + from + V-ingturn out + to + V

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In Gerunds & infinitives

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