spend, cost, take, pay和pay for用法辨析

（1）spend的主语必须是“人”，宾语可以是钱、精力、时间等，其后用on (for) + 名词或用in（可省略）+ 动名词形式，不接不定式。如：

He spent a lot of money for this new car.他花了很多钱买了这辆新车。

He doesn't spend much time on his homework .他花在作业上的时间不多。

He is always spending.他挥霍成性。

Don't spend without the thought of the next day.花钱不要只顾眼前不想明天。

He spends much money on books.他平时将很多钱用在买书上。

He spent a lot of money (in) buying a new car.他花很多钱买一辆新车。

Every morning he spends half an hour on English.每天早晨他用半小时读英语。（句中on English可与(in) reading English替换）

（2）cost的主语必须是“物”或“事”，表示“费用”、“耗费”，后接life, money, health, time等，侧重于“花费”的代价。如：

The book cost him one dollar.这本书用了他一美元。

That suit costs me over￡ 6. 那件上衣花掉我6英镑。

Courtesy costs little and means much.礼节并不失去什么却获益甚多。

Careless driving cost him his life.漫不经心的开车使他丧失生命。

It costs you 12 pounds to go London by ship.乘船到伦敦要用12英磅。

Making experiments like this costs much time and labour.做这样的实验要花很多钱。

注意：cost后不能与具体的时间长度连用，只能与表示抽象概念的时间短语连用。如：some time, much time, ten years of hard work等。可说It cost him ten years of work.不可说It cost him ten years to work.

（3）take表示“花费”时，其主语一般是“一件事”，有时主语也可以是人，它说明事情完成“花费了……”。如：

少took me ten minutes to go to the post office.到邮局用去了我十分钟时间。

The producer took two years to make the film.制片商用了两年时间拍这部新影片。

说明：take…to do sth.句型侧重完成该动作花费的时间，而spend…doing sth.有时并不说明动作的完成。如：

It took him an hour to read the book.他用一小时读完了这本书。

He spent an hour (in) reading the book.他用了一小时读这本书。（是否读完并未说明）

（4）pay的基本意思是“支付”，作为及物动词，宾语可以是“人”、“钱”。如：

He paid the taxi and hurried to the station.他付了出租车的钱，急忙向车站赶去。

They had to pay two hundred francs.他得付二百法郎。

We’ll pay you in a few days.几天后我会给你钱。

（5）pay for的宾语为“物”、“事”，for表示支付的原因。如：

You’ll have to pay me ten dollars a week for your meals.你得每周付给我十美元饭钱。

注意：下面两句中pay for的意义不同。

Of course we have to pay for what we buy.当然我们买东西得付钱。

Don’t worry about money; I’ll pay for you.别担心钱，我会替你付的。