0
  1. I play tennis for thirty minutes every Monday.
  2. I spend thirty minutes playing tennis every Monday.

Which one is correct and more natural?

An English teacher had her students make a weekly exercise plan. I heard she taught her students the first sentence, and that makes me confused, cuz I thought "for+time" is usually in a present perfect form. Like...I've played tennis for thirty minutes.

Improve this question
0

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

Both are a correct and natural use of English.

The idea is that the tense of the verb should match the time adverbial. So the following are all correct:

I played tennis for 30 minutes last Monday
I have played tennis for 30 minutes, and now I'm tired.
I play tennis for 30 minutes every Monday
I will play tennis for 30 minutes next Monday.

Your example uses "every Monday", and that means the verb should be simple present, not present perfect.

The difference between your examples is

I play tennis for 30 minutes
I spend 30 minutes playing tennis

And these are alternative ways of saying the same thing. Both use a present tense verb (play and spend). Both are correct and differ only in nuance (the difference is the meaning of the phrase "spend time")

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.