Question

Deleted user
26 Dec 2016
Closed question
Question about English (US)
A : I kept myself under at the park for ten hours.
B : I stayed at the park for ten hours.
Are both of them the same meaning?
A : I kept myself under at the park for ten hours.
B : I stayed at the park for ten hours.
Are both of them the same meaning?
B : I stayed at the park for ten hours.
Are both of them the same meaning?
Answers
26 Dec 2016
Featured answer
- English (US)
"Stay" means "remain in the same location" or "remain in the same state/position"
"Keep" means "continue the same action" or "cause to remain in the same state/position/action"
In "I stayed at the park" you use "stay" because you are remaining in the same location. You cannot use "keep" here because keep doesn't have that same definition.
In "They kept him under the knife," "under the knife" means "in surgery," which is a state/condition. Therefore you use "keep" because the surgeons are CAUSING him to stay in that state. That's not a definition of stay so you can't use it.
If it had said "He stayed under the knife for 10 hours," you would use "stay" because he is talking about the condition itself, not what is causing him to stay under the knife.
I hope I made this understandable for you!
Highly-rated answerer
Read more comments
- English (US)
I would say "I stayed at the park for ten hours."
A) just sounds odd, you only use "keep" in that sense with actions/verbs
"She kept painting for nearly 3 more hours"
Highly-rated answerer

Deleted user
@katiem415 I understand, but what I'm wanting is "keep under." Because I'm not sure it has the same meaning the verb "stay" or not. Thank you so much ^^
- English (US)
@Koreakimchi Do you have an example sentence where you saw this used? "Keep under" isn't really a phrase by itself, "under" is just a preposition
Highly-rated answerer
- English (US)
@Koreakimchi There are a few times when "keep" can be used to mean "stay."
"We kept under cover" means the same as "We stayed under cover."
It doesn't normally and "kept under" is not equivalent to "stay" by itself in any context I can think of.
Highly-rated answerer

Deleted user
@katiem415 Here is the original sentence: 'They kept him under the knife for ten hours"

Deleted user
@katiem415 I just thought that both of them are very similar.
- English (US)
"Stay" means "remain in the same location" or "remain in the same state/position"
"Keep" means "continue the same action" or "cause to remain in the same state/position/action"
In "I stayed at the park" you use "stay" because you are remaining in the same location. You cannot use "keep" here because keep doesn't have that same definition.
In "They kept him under the knife," "under the knife" means "in surgery," which is a state/condition. Therefore you use "keep" because the surgeons are CAUSING him to stay in that state. That's not a definition of stay so you can't use it.
If it had said "He stayed under the knife for 10 hours," you would use "stay" because he is talking about the condition itself, not what is causing him to stay under the knife.
I hope I made this understandable for you!
Highly-rated answerer

Deleted user
@delta1212 I’m understandable. Thank you for kind explain ^^

Deleted user
@katiem415 I’ll try hard to understand by slowly think and read for your explain. Thank you so much ^^
- English (US)
@Koreakimchi Sure, feel free to ask if I was confusing about something
Highly-rated answerer

Deleted user
@katiem415 It took me a while to understand for your explain, but I understand now. Thanks again^^

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