spend time/money

A student recently asked me to explain the usage of the verb spend. Specifically, she asked:

Which preposition should I use with spend? in? on?
What structures do I use after spend time/money?

So, in this post I’m going to explain.

spend time/money

We usually use an object (time or money) with the verb spend. These two main structures are possible:

spend time/money on something/someone
spend time/money doing something

Examples

• He spends a lot of time on his homework.
• Julia has a very rich husband. He spends a lot of money on her.
• I spent $20 on his birthday present.
• She spent a year living in Singapore.
• I spent the weekend relaxing at home.
• The cat spends most of her time sleeping.