in the span of ten years vs in a span of ten years

Both phrases are correct, but they are used in slightly different contexts. 'In the span of ten years' is more commonly used and refers to something happening within a specific period of time. 'In a span of ten years' is less common and could be used to emphasize the duration of time without specifying a particular period.

Last updated: April 01, 2024 • 4099 views

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

"in the span of ten years"

This phrase is used to indicate that something happens within a specific period of ten years.

Examples:

In the span of ten years, the company grew from a small startup to a multinational corporation.
He achieved great success in the span of ten years.

Show examples from the web [+]

You've shortened my life span by ten years.
Incorporated in 1989, RAK Ceramics within a short span of over ten years firmly established itself as one of the world's leading producers of high quality Ceramic wall & floor tiles, Gres Porcellanato, and Sanitary ware.
Clearly, other actions must follow: we must never forget that our strategy spans a ten-year period.
Two surprises in the span of thirty days.
In the span of three years, Rose killed six elderly patients.
Thus in the span of a few years the Church endured violent persecution.
All of them in the span of 90 minutes.
All three were shot in the span of an hour last night.
I knew in the span of a heartbeat.
In the span of 3 days, I make 70% of my annual income.
In the span of six months, he took total control of the five major syndicates.
The only weird thing is that two different girls just asked me out in the span of one minute.
In the span of your whole lifetime, it's a second.
And thanks to Pandora here, we just lost both in the span of five minutes.
So now we're looking at 3 victims in the span of 72 hours.
I think in the span of her life of less than 20 years, she felt more pain and misery than any person could imagine.
In the span of a few hours, you can explore dense jungles and lounge on sunkissed beaches. However Panama's greatest natural wonder is the incredible abundance and variety of wildlife.
In the span of a single lifetime, we have seen enormous changes in social values, in economic circumstances, and in technological innovation.
In the span of an hour, an investor's finances can fluctuate dramatically.
Clusters of violent rituals in four different locations, all in the span of two months.

Alternatives:

Within the span of ten years
Over the course of ten years

This phrase is correct but less commonly used in English.

"in a span of ten years"

This phrase can be used to emphasize a duration of ten years without specifying a particular period.

Examples:

In a span of ten years, the population of the city doubled.
He traveled to over 50 countries in a span of ten years.

Show examples from the web [+]

You've shortened my life span by ten years.
Incorporated in 1989, RAK Ceramics within a short span of over ten years firmly established itself as one of the world's leading producers of high quality Ceramic wall & floor tiles, Gres Porcellanato, and Sanitary ware.
Clearly, other actions must follow: we must never forget that our strategy spans a ten-year period.
We lost three Librarians in a span of 8 months.
Two unnatural corpses popped up in town in a span of hours.
Set up in a span of 4 beautifully landscaped acres, the building has an imposing yet serene presence, a resort like ambience.
It should show signs of improvement in a span of 2-3 weeks
During the time the CC panel was analyzed... the phone-home logs jumped from around 400 to nearly 6,000 in a span of 3 hours.
In a span of one month, King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain unleashed a merciless repression campaign against his subjects.
In a span of only four years, the future is already here.
The tape your watching records his fifth appearance at the store in a span of two weeks.
In a span of a year, he's lost his father, And his mother's been taken away.
Taking Indian costs from 2004 or 2005 as proxy for the costs during the IP was not considered appropriate as costs in a span of 10 years may differ significantly.
You're saying the shape of his leg changed that much in a span of a couple of months?
Chrome which was launched in 2008, has in a span of a few years posed a serious threat to the dominance of Internet Explorer which Mozilla's open source Firefox, inspite of its loyal following, couldn't.
Combined with a separate contest Google sponsored a few feet away, it was the second zero-day attack visited on Chrome in a span of a few hours. It was a rare event.
In the case of Tuscany, the creation of an integrated and diffused railway system in a span of less than twenty years, also involved issues of a town planning nature.
And surprisingly, this was only the first of two attacks made on Google's Chrome browser in a span of only a few hours on the opening day of the annual contest.
Injecting urine of a pregnant woman in a female of Xenopus laevis, it may be seen how this one lays the eggs in a span of 5 to 24 hours, this because the effect of the human chorionic gonadotrophin (beta-HCg), present in the urine.
They were, indeed, splendid and superior animals, reaching maturity at about ten years of age and having a natural life span of about forty years.

Alternatives:

Over a span of ten years
Within a span of ten years

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in the span of ten years vs in a span of ten years