Question

1. He read the book in 5 days.
2. He read the book after 5 days.
3. He read the book within 5 days
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What does #1 mean,#2 or #3?
Does 1 mean it took 5 days for him to read the book? Or does it mean it took 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 4 days,or 5 days to read the book? When he finished reading the book for two days, can we say as in sentence 1?

Answer 1

#1 means it took him 5 days to read the book. In other words. He finished the book in 5 days.

#2 means he waited 5 days to START reading the book. It doesn't mean he finished reading the book from what I can tell.

#3 probably means he finished reading the book in LESS Than 5 days. It does not specify anything more thn that.

Answer 2

*than

Answer 3

Bill is right. #3 means any length of time UP TO five days. He could have read the book in one afternoon for all this sentence tells us. Bill explains #1 and #2 very well. :)

Answer 4

It took 5 days for him to read the book.