"This took place in this hour." "This took place during this hour."
Is there any difference between the phrases "in this hour" and "during this hour"?
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1Well, there's certainly a kind of similarity between those two constructions: no one would ever employ them!– Dan BronJun 1, 2015 at 11:14
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So they actually mean the same?– Jin-DominiqueJun 1, 2015 at 11:27
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1My comment was a little joke. I was saying no native speaker would ever say "... took place in this hour" or "... took place during this hour". We simply don't phrase the idea that way. To explore this idea more, you can ask for details on our special site dedicated to people learning English as a foreign language: English Language Learners.– Dan BronJun 1, 2015 at 11:38
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@DanBron, So what they say instead? Please give us an example.– EiliaJun 1, 2015 at 12:29
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@Eilia As I told OP, more details can be gained by asking this question on our sister site dedicated to people trying to learn to speak English like a native speaker would, English Language Learners.– Dan BronJun 1, 2015 at 12:30
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1 Answer
Agreed with @DanBron, such constructions are a bit strange. I think, following alternatives may be useful.
...took place during the hour. (16 occurrences in Google Book)
...took place within the hour. (18 occurrences in Google Book)
While,
"This took place in this hour." (no occurrence in Google Book)
...took place during this hour. (9 occurrences in Google Book)
Moreover, for more info :
During vs. Within (http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/during-or-within.2461225/)
During vs. In (http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/preps_during-in.html)
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Curiously, if you scroll to the second page of results for each of your first two suggestions, took place during the hour actually has a total of 17 results, but the same for took place within the hour has 18. Google Books "estimated results" are often highly suspect. Jun 1, 2015 at 13:01
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Ohh, it is even worse than it looks for the first suggestion. There are only 16 occurrences.– EiliaJun 1, 2015 at 13:10
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Piling on the agony (and making no concessions to learners, who should be seeking enlightenment on ELL), I'd also point out that in casual speech I wouldn't necessarily bother with a preposition at all - It happened this past hour is fine by me. Jun 1, 2015 at 13:23