1. How long did it take for him to read the book?
1-1. He finished reading the book in 5 days.
(If this is the answer to the question, #1-1 mean that it took the whold 5 days to read the book. Am I right? In that case, we can not use 'within' instead of 'in.' What about this explanation?)
2. He finished reading the book after 5 days.
(Is this ungrammatical?)
3. He finished reading the book within 5 days.
(When he finished reading the book in one day, we can use this expression, right? What about in the UK? If in the UK, 'in' doesn't mean 'within,' the meaning of 1-1 is : It took the whole 5 days for him to finish reading the book. Am I right?)
"in five days" means it took five days. If he started on Monday, he finished the book on Friday. Your #2 doesn't make a lot of sense. After five days could mean anything more than five days. He took a whole year to read the book?
1. Yes, you are correct. "He finished reading the book in 5 days" means that it took the entire 5 days to complete the book. You are right that we cannot use "within" instead of "in" in this context because "within" implies completion before the specified time limit.
2. "He finished reading the book after 5 days" is grammatically correct but may not convey the exact meaning you intend. This phrase suggests that it took more than 5 days to finish reading the book.
3. "He finished reading the book within 5 days" means that he completed reading the book at some point during the 5 days, but it doesn't specify exactly how long it took him. It can imply completion in a shorter time period as well, including one day. This expression works similarly in both the US and the UK where "within" means completion before or at the end of a specified period of time.
1. You are correct, the expression "He finished reading the book in 5 days" implies that it took the full 5 days to complete the reading. In this case, you cannot use "within" instead of "in" because "within" typically suggests a shorter timeframe or completion before a specified deadline.
2. The sentence "He finished reading the book after 5 days" is grammatically correct, but it has a slightly different meaning. It implies that the completion of reading occurred at some point following the 5-day period. This sentence does not convey the duration of time it took to finish reading the book.
3. "He finished reading the book within 5 days" means that he completed the reading at some point within the 5-day period. It does not specify whether it took less than 5 days or the full 5 days. However, if someone finished reading the book in one day, it would still be correct to use this expression because completing the task within a single day falls within the 5-day timeframe.
Regarding the usage in the UK, the meaning would generally be the same. "In" and "within" can be used interchangeably in this context, indicating that the book was finished at some point during the 5-day period.