"She wrote that book over ten years."

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Viceidol

#546273 Fri, 25 Jul 08 02:40 PM

She wrote that book over ten years.

Is that a good sentence? It's from one of my English-Chinese dictionaries, and its translation of the above sentence is "She spent 10 years writing that book." Is that correct? If not, what could it mean?

In my opinion, maybe it would be normal to write in this way:

She wrote that book over/during the past ten years.

She has written a book over/during the past ten years.

What do you think? Thank you for answering my question!

Viceidol

Joined on Wed, Jul 11 2007

Taiwan

Regular Member (535)

Translation

optilang

#546276 Fri, 25 Jul 08 02:45 PM

She wrote that book over the last ten years - it took her ten years to write it (she spent ten years writing it)

She wrote that book during the last ten years - she wrote it sometime between 1998and 2008. She may have finished it in 2005

optilang

Joined on Tue, May 13 2008

Poland

Senior Member (2,169)

OptiNative British English Speaker Wherever I may roam, I'm still a Londoner.

New2grammar

#546281 Fri, 25 Jul 08 02:58 PM

Without the in the "the past ten years", it sounds like it happened during a period of time in the past, not necessarily the recent 10 years, am I right?

New2grammar

Joined on Tue, Nov 21 2006

Veteran Member (7,670)

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Viceidol

#546290 Fri, 25 Jul 08 03:15 PM

optilang
She wrote that book over the last ten years - it took her ten years to write it (she spent ten years writing it)

She wrote that book during the last ten years - she wrote it sometime between 1998and 2008. She may have finished it in 2005

Many of my dictionaries also say "over" could mean the same as "during", for example:

We met over the Christmas holiday.

She's been a great help to me over the past year.

Is that true?

Viceidol

Philip

#546311 Fri, 25 Jul 08 03:44 PM

Viceidol

She wrote that book over ten years.

She wrote the book over a period of ten years.

Philip

Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005

USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)

Veteran Member (6,181)

At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen

CalifJim

#546395 Fri, 25 Jul 08 09:31 PM

Viceidol
Many of my dictionaries also say "over" could mean the same as "during", for example:

We met over the Christmas holiday.

She's been a great help to me over the past year.

Is that true?

It's true.

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (16,922)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

CalifJim

#546396 Fri, 25 Jul 08 09:32 PM

New2grammar
Without the in the "the past ten years", it sounds like it happened during a period of time in the past, not necessarily the recent 10 years, am I right?

You are.

CalifJim

Grammar