1

I wanted to say to my friend that, I did excercise for 10 mins and after its completion, I waited for 30 mins and then I drank water. I constructed it as

"After 30 mins of doing the excercise, I drank a bottle of water"

But I immediately felt that this line is ambiguous. I think this line could also mean that I did excercise for 30 mins and then drank water. Was I correct ? If not how should I say it ?

Improve this question
7
  • 3
    It is not ambiguous; it means only (not also) what you say. To convey the meaning you intend, say "30 min. after finishing my exercise, I drank a bottle of water.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Jul 22, 2020 at 8:26
  • Thank you, your sentence structure is much clearer, and if I say "after 30 mins of excercise, I drank water" would that mean that I excercised for 30 mins and then drank water ?
    – Akshit Raj
    Commented Jul 22, 2020 at 8:35
  • @AkshitRaj To your last comment, yes: that's what it means. As Kate is hinting, your original isn't ambiguous, because it is essentially wrong - it doesn't mean what you want it to. I would probably go with: "30 minutes after exercising, I drank a bottle of water."
    – MikeB
    Commented Jul 22, 2020 at 11:17
  • @MikeBrockington I have another question, a while ago, I received an email from my college (regarding online exam) , in that email a line was written " exam can be withdrawn within 60 mins of the finish of exam" now I constructed it as meaning that I can withdraw exam within 60 mins after I finish my exam. Is that right ? And is that line grammatically incorrect ?
    – Akshit Raj
    Commented Jul 22, 2020 at 11:21
  • @MikeBrockington what are the other ways in which I can say this line ?
    – Akshit Raj
    Commented Jul 22, 2020 at 11:22

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

The following works well:

I exercised for 10 minutes. After finishing, I waited for 30 minutes and then I drank some water.

You almost provided an answer to your own question when you wrote, "I wanted to say to my friend that [...]"

Improve this answer
1

If you say the exercise, it means you're only doing a single specific exercise. You don't use an article to say that you were exercising in general.

If you want to keep a similar structure to what you wrote, I would say:

Thirty minutes after I exercised, I drank a bottle of water.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .