Here is a sentence
I have been to Harbin for ten times.
Shall we plus "for" in front of the times?
Or we can say I have been to harbin ten times?
Which is correct? Or both of them are O.K.?
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
Teacher Wang,
(1) Member JMurray has given you and me an excellent answer.
(2) May I add some comments?
(3) You probably want a "rule" in case your students ask you.
Am I right?
(4) I think that I found a "rule" in
A Comprehensive Grammar of
the English Language.
(5) As you know, the adverbs in bold are adverbs of frequency
(how often you do something):
I have
often been to Harbin.
I have
never been to Harbin.
I have
occasionally been to Harbin.
(6) Sometimes in English, we do not use an adverb. We use a
noun phrase.
(7) When we use a noun phrase for frequency (how often you
do something), the book gives this "rule":
Use every/ each + a noun (hour, day, year, etc.)
Use a quantifier or numeral (several, four) +
times.
Do
NOT use a preposition (such as
for).
So we could say:
I have been to Harbin
four times.
I have visited Harbin
every month this year.
I have gone to Harbin
each year since 1990.
(8) It seems that
times is a very special word. If you use
the word
occasion, then you DO use a preposition:
I have been to Harbin
on four
occasions.
(NOT: I have been to Harbin four occasions.)
(9) Here are some more examples from that book:
(a) She has been to Singapore
once. ( = one + time)
(b) I visit England
three times a year.
(c) I perform operations
three days each week.
(d) Meetings take place
weekly. ( = once [one time] a week)
(e)
Each summer I spend my vacation in Bermuda.
*****
I wish to credit:
Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, Jan Svartvik,
A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (London and
New York: Longman, 1985).
