spend的主语通常是人，往往用于以下句型：
1. (sb) spend some money/some time on sth.
2. (sb)spend some money/some time(in)doing sth.

3.spend money for sth. 花钱买……。

I spent fifty yuan on the coat.
= I spent fifty yuan (in) buying the coat. 我花50元买了这件大衣。
He spent three days on the work.
= He spend three days (in) doing the work. 我干这项工作用了3天。
例如：His money was spent for books. 他的钱用来买书了。

take

常用于“占用、花费”时间，后面常跟双宾语，其主语通常为形式主语“it”或物。句式是：
1. It takes/took sb.some time to do sth
例如：It will take me two days to do the work.　这项工作花了2天时间。
2. Doing sth./Sth.takes sb.some time.

3.sb. take  some time to do sth.
例如： The work will take me two days.这项工作花了2天时间。
Repairing this car took him the whole afternoon. 他花了一下午修车。
It took me three years to draw the beautiful horses.
=Drawing the beautiful horses took me three years.
画这些漂亮的马花费了我3年时间。
pay为“付款、赔偿”之意，主语通常是人，句型
1. sb. pays some money for sth
例如： I paid fifty yuan for the coat.我花50元买了这件大衣。
2.  sb pay sb. money （for sth. ） = sb pay money to sb. （for sth ） 付钱给某人（买……。）
例如：I have to pay them 20 pounds for this room each month. 我每个月要付20英磅的房租。
3. pay money back 还钱。
例如：May I borrow 12 yuan from you? I'll pay it back next week. 你能借给我12块钱吗？下周还你。
4. pay off one's money　还清钱。 
5.pay for sth. 付……的钱。赔偿。。。。。。

例：I have to pay for the book lost. 我不得不赔丢失的书款。

6 pay for sb. 替某人付钱。

例：Don't worry ! I'll pay for you. 别担心， 我会给你付钱的。

cost的主语是物或某种活动，
还可以表示“值”。句型
1. sth. costs (sb.) ＋money,　某物花了（某人）多少钱。
例如：A new computer costs a lot of money. 买一台新电脑要花一大笔钱。
2. (doing) sth. costs (sb.) ＋time,　某物（做某事）花了（某人）多少时间。
例如：Remembering these new words cost him a lot of time. 他花了大量时间才记住了这些单词。

3.It costs sb. + money +to do sth . 买某物花了某人多少钱

 

注意：cost的过去式及过去分词都是cost，并且不能用于被动句。
2004年北京市海淀区中考试题
I'm interested in animals, so I _____________ every Saturday working in an animal hospital.
A. pay B. get C. take D. spend
【解析】答案：D。该题考查的是pay, get, take和spend这四个动词的用法区别。只有动词spend可以用在sb. spends time doing sth. 这个句型里，所以正确答案影视spend。
This science book ____ me a great amount of money.
A. took 　B. cost 　C. used 　D. spent
答案：B

 

cost, pay, spend用法“五辨”

 

一、辨主语

虽然三者均可表示“花费”，但所用主语不同：cost 的主语通常是事或物(包括形式主语 it)，不能是人；spend 的主语只能是人，不能是事或物；take 的主语可以是事或物(包括形式主语 it)，也可以是人。如：

The computer cost (me) $2000. 这台电脑花了(我) 2000 美元。

It costs $1000 a year to run a car. 使用一辆车每年要花1000美元。

I have spent all day looking for you. 我花了一整天找你。

It took me an hour to write the letter. 我写这封信花了一个小时。

The letter took me an hour (to write). (译文同上)

I took an hour to write the letter. (译文同上)

注：若 cost 不是表示“花费”，而是表示客观上地或被动地“耗费”，则也可用人作主语。如：

Smokers cost the government a lot of money every year. 抽烟的人每年要耗费政府不少钱。

 

二、辨宾语

cost 的宾语通常是钱，take 的宾语通常是时间，而 spend 的宾语则可以是时间或钱。如：

How much did it cost to build the bridge? 建这座桥花了多少钱?

It took her two hours to walk to the station. 走路去车站花了她两小时。

He spends much time (money) on books. 他花了很多时间读(钱买)书。

注：cost 有时也用于时间，但通常只用于笼统时间(一般不用于具体明确的时间)。如：

Making experiments like this costs much time and labour. 做这样的实验要花很多时间和劳力。

按传统语法，take 的宾语通常是时间，但在现代英语中，用钱作其宾语的现象已很普遍。如：

It takes a lot of money to buy a house. 买一座房子要花一大笔钱。

 

三、辨句型

从句型结构来看。三者的通常句型为：

sth costs (sb) money 某物花某人多少钱

it costs (sb) money to do sth 做某事花某人多少钱

sb spends time (money) on sth 某人在某一方面花多少钱

sb spends time (money) in [on] doing sth 某人在做某事方面花多少钱

it takes sb time (money) to do sth = it takes time (money) for sb to do sth 做某事花某人多少时间或钱

sth takes sb time (money) to do 某事花某人多少时间或钱去做

sb takes time (money) to do 某人花多少时间或钱去做某事

 

 

四、辨语态

三者在表示“花费”时，cost 不能用于被动语态，take 通常不用于被动语态，而 spend 则可以用于被动语态。如：

误：Thirty dollars was cost by the coat.

误：Two hours was taken to do the work.

正：Two hours was spent on the work. 做这工作花了两个小时。

 

五、辨引申

三者均可用于比喻用法中，但含义不同：

1. cost 指付出代价(劳力、麻烦、精力、生命等)。如：

Careless driving will cost you your life. 粗心开车会要你的命。

Just ring him up. It’ll cost you nothing. 给他打个电话，这不费什么事。

2. spend 表示“消耗”“用完”。如：

I’ll spend no more breath on him. 我不会再和他费唇舌。

He spent great efforts to help me. 他费了很大的劲儿来帮我。

3. take 表示需要人力(精力、劳力等)。如：

It takes patience. 做这工作需要耐心。

It takes two to make a quarrel. 一个巴掌拍不响。

It took three men to lift the box. 抬这个箱子要 3 个人。

 

针对性练习

 

１．This handbag looks beautiful. How much is it?

I paid $2,000 for it.

Ａ．cost  B.paid  C.spent  D.took

２．Mr and Mrs Wang spent about an hour eating dinner in that pizza store.

Ａ．Washing a car  B.A pound of beef  C.Mr and Mrs Wang  D.The nice tirp

３．The house cost the Nixon family more than 5 million dollars fives ago.

Ａ．cost  B.paid  C.spent  D.took

４．Please drive the car carefully.I spent $860,000 on it.You know it is a big money for a man like me.

 Ａ．in  B.at  C.for  D.on

５．Did you see the watch while we window-shopped last night？

Do you mean you are interested in it? It must cost a lot.

Ａ．cost  B.pay  C.spent  D.took

６．Mr Wilson is very pleased with the sculpture which took him about five years to finish.

Ａ．cost  B.paid  C.spent  D.took  

７．Do you really want to go to the USA for your doctor degree?It will take you at least three years.

Ａ．cost  B.pay  C.spend  D.take

８．Steve's office is clean .He always gets to his office earlier and spends twenty minutes cleaning it.

Ａ．clean  B.cleaning  C.to clean  D.cleaned

９．It is not right for you to pay the workers just a little money to make them do that hard work.

Ａ．cost  B.pay  C.spend  D.take

１０．It has taken more than one and half a years to build his farm house.

Ａ．build  B.building  C.to build  D.built　

１１．I've spent a whole day fixing the CD player,but it still can't work.

Ａ.fix  B.fixing  C.to fix  D.fixed

１２．Don't forget to prepare for your final test earlier.It takes time.

Ａ．costs  B.pays  C.spends  D.takes

１３．If I were you,I wouldn't fix the car any more.It costs money.

Ａ．costs  B.pays  C.spends  D.takes

１４．This type of MP4 is my favorite ,but I can't afford it.

Ａ．spend  B.cost  C.pay  D.afford

１５．Keeping pets may cost money and take time.

Ａ．spend;cost  B.cost;spend  C.pay;take  D.cost;take

１６．He paid $50 to the shop assistant.

Ａ．to  B.for  C.on  D.at

17.I bought a digital cemera for $165.

   A.paid  B.spent  C.cost  D.bought

18.I've just got a new　ＭＰ５．

1.      Ｈｏｗ　ｍｕｃｈ　ｄｉｄ　ｙｏｕ　ｐａｙ　ｆｏｒ　

a)      ｉｔ？

b)      Ａ．ｓｐｅｎｄ　　Ｂ．ｂｕｙ　　Ｃ．ｐａｙ　　Ｄ．ｃｏｓｔ

2.      １９．Ｔｈｅ　ｇｉｒｌ　ｐａｉｄ　ｆｏｒ　ｔｈｅ　ｐｅｎ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｅｎ　ｙｕａｎｎ　ｈｅｒ　ｍｏｎｔｈｅｒ　ｇａｖｅ　ｈｅｒ．

3.      Ａ.ｐａｉｄ；ｆｏｒ　　Ｂ．ｐａｉｄ　ｆｏｒ；ｗｉｔｈ　　Ｃ．ｐａｉｄ；ｗｉｔｈ　　Ｄ．ｐａｉｄ　ｆｏｒ；ｗｉｔｈ