Teo  +  218019 Thu, 20 Apr 06 12:36 PM How long did you spend studying English last night? Is the above sentence acceptable? Teo Joined on Tue, Sep 28 2004 Taiwan Contributing Member 1,631 Thank you very much for your reply.

	nona the brit  +  218021 Thu, 20 Apr 06 12:52 PM yes it looks fine to me. nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,713 The name says it all.

	Philip  +  218078 Thu, 20 Apr 06 03:52 PM  Teo wrote: How long did you spend studying English last night? Is the above sentence acceptable? I don't often disagree with Nona, but the sentence sounds awkward to me.  I would change it to:  "How long did you study English last night?" or "How much time did you spend studying English last night?"  Philip Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005 Veteran Member 8,738 At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen

	milky  +  218079 Thu, 20 Apr 06 03:59 PM  Teo wrote: How long did you spend studying English last night? Is the above sentence acceptable? It's fine, but I think you'll find "much time" with "spend"  is more common because of "spend time" and not "use time". milky Joined on Thu, Jan 15 2004 Senior Member 3,149 Hume said that if we had perfect or complete descriptive knowledge of reality, we could not, by reasoning, derive a single valid "ought".

	Grammar Geek  +  218082 Thu, 20 Apr 06 04:00 PM Well, it's true that there are other ways to say it and you may hear contructions like your examples more often, but the original is still grammatical and natural to me. What if "English" were replaced by "for the exam"? Does that sound more natural? Other examples using the original construction: Here's a timely one: How long did you spend doing your taxes? How long did you spend planning her baby shower? Do you think the addition of the "last night" changes the structure signficantly? Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,676 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random! Constructions

	milky  +  218095 Thu, 20 Apr 06 04:22 PM  Teo wrote: How long did you spend studying English last night? Is the above sentence acceptable? Interesting Google result: 66,200 -  "How much time did you spend". 35,900 -  "How long did you spend". milky