take spend cost pay的用法都可以表示“花費(fèi)”,但用法卻不盡相同.
spend的主語(yǔ)必須是人,常用于以下結(jié)構(gòu)：
(1) spend time ／money on sth.在……上花費(fèi)時(shí)間（金錢(qián)）.例：I spent two hours on this maths problem.這道數(shù)學(xué)題花了我兩個(gè)小時(shí).
(2) spend time ／ money (in) doing sth.花費(fèi)時(shí)間（金錢(qián)）做某事.例：They spent two years (in) building this bridge.造這座橋花了他們兩年時(shí)間.
(3)spend money for sth.花錢(qián)買(mǎi)…….例：His money was spent for books.他的錢(qián)用來(lái)買(mǎi)書(shū)了.
cost的主語(yǔ)是物或某種活動(dòng),還可以表示“值”,常見(jiàn)用法如下：
(1)sth.costs (sb.) ＋金錢(qián),某物花了（某人）多少錢(qián).例：A new computer costs a lot of money.買(mǎi)一臺(tái)新電腦要花一大筆錢(qián).
(2) (doing) sth.costs (sb.) ＋時(shí)間,某物（做某事）花了（某人）多少時(shí)間.例：Remembering these new words cost him a lot of time.他花了大量時(shí)間才記住了這些單詞.
注意：cost的過(guò)去式及過(guò)去分詞都是cost,并且不能用于被動(dòng)句.
take后面常跟雙賓語(yǔ),常見(jiàn)用法有以下幾種：
(1) It takes sb.＋時(shí)間＋to do sth.做某事花了某人多少時(shí)間.例：It took them three years to build this road.他們用了三年時(shí)間修完了這條路.
(2)doing sth.takes sb.＋時(shí)間,做某事花了某人多少時(shí)間.例：Repairing this car took him the whole afternoon.他花了一下午修車(chē).
pay的基本用法是：
(1) pay (sb.) money for sth.付錢(qián)（給某人）買(mǎi)…….例：I have to pay them 20 pounds for this room each month.我每個(gè)月要付20英磅的房租.
(2)pay for sth.付……的錢(qián).例：I have to pay for the book lost.我不得不賠丟失的書(shū)款.
(3)pay for sb.替某人付錢(qián).例：Don?蒺t worry!I'll pay for you.別擔(dān)心,我會(huì)給你付錢(qián)的.
(4)pay sb.付錢(qián)給某人.例:They pay us every month.他們每月給我們報(bào)酬.
（5）pay money back 還錢(qián).例：May I borrow 12 yuan from you?I'll pay it back next week.你能借給我12塊錢(qián)嗎?下周還你.
（6）pay off one's money還清錢(qián).