Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Joseph@Shiga]

Hi native teachers,

Always appreciate your kind suggestions.
What bothers me today is how to express a cycle, by utilizing "period",
but not utilizing "every" (this kind of usage restriction often occurs
in translation of a patent specification).

The operation is repeated in a predetermined period.

Should I use "with" or "at" instead of "in"?

Thanks in advance.

Joseph@Shiga.

[2006]

It's a little hard to answer without knowing exactly what kind of "operation" you are talking about, but I'll give it a try.

Since you want to use "period", which is 'a period of time', I would choose 'after'. This operation is repeated after a predetermined period.

The phrase "with a predetermined period" sounds like it should be used for a moon orbiting around a planet or something like that.

I don't like "at a predetermined period" very much. "at a predetermined time" would sound better.

"in a predetermined period" sounds like it means "within a predetermined period". If you say "in 6 months", for example, that would be taken to mean "after 6 months", but it doesn't work for "period".

Actually none of these words make it clear that the operation will be continually repeated in a cyclical manner, which seems to be what you want to say. If so, you can say something like This operation is to be repeated after a predetermined period, in cycles.

[Joseph@Shiga]

Many thanks for your kind and meticulous instruction.

I think the sentence "This operation is to be repeated after a predetermined period, in cycles." is the best one to solve my problem.

Joseph@Shiga.

[lotus]

Hi Joseph,

In engineering, period is the reciprocal of frequency T=1/f. T is in seconds and f is in Hertz (cycles per second).

Once you specify a period T, it is assumed that it is repeating - since it is the reciprocal of frequency (repeated cycles in time).

I would say:

The operation is repeated at a specific frequency.
or
The operation is repeated with a specific time period.

The first one is more common.


If it only happens once, then 2006's analysis is correct.


--lotus
_________________
War does not make one great --Yoda