Within 30 days vs in 30 days

English translation: within = not more than; in = exactly

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	Within 30 days vs in 30 days
Selected answer:	within = not more than; in = exactly
Entered by:	Jacopo_HI-EN-IT

09:21 Dec 14, 2015

English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Bus/Financial - Accounting / payment policies

English term or phrase: Within 30 days vs in 30 days

Hi all, I have a doubt regarding a question we received from one of our customers regarding our payment policies.

In particular we told him that:
"The payment will be issued within 30 days from the end of the collaboration".

He seemed confused about the time of the actual payment, so I am wondering what's the difference between "within" and "in" with reference to a fixed amount of days?

I took for granted that "within" meant in that context that the payment will take place "anytime before 90 days since the end of the collaboration have passed". Is that correct? Whereas "in 30 days", in the same context, means it will take place exactly after 30 days, correct?

Thanks for any feedback,
Best

Jacopo_HI-EN-IT Not a translator KudoZ activity Questions: 2 (none open) Answers: 0 Italy
Local time: 14:25

within = not more than; in = exactly

Explanation:
Yes, you have it right — but this point does confuse many non-native speakers of EN, since in many languages, 'within' and 'in' translate to the same word.
within 30 days = not more than 30 days
in 30 days = 30 days from now.

Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 14:25

Grading comment

Thanks a lot
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

5 +12

within = not more than; in = exactly

Tony M

4 +2

Payment is due within 30 days of

Sheila Wilson

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

11 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +12

within 30 days vs in 30 days

within = not more than; in = exactly

Tony M
France
Local time: 14:25
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thanks a lot

32 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

The payment will be issued within 30 days from Payment is due within 30 days of

Explanation:
The sentence has multiple issues and my proposed answer is the closest correct version. It's perfectly clear what it's supposed to mean but it isn't 100% unambiguous.

Invoices are issued; payments are made. So "will be made" is grammatically correct, but not great. By using the passive it remains unclear who should make the payment (even though in practice it's perfectly clear, of course.

And is "will be" here forming a future tense or does it imply obligation? Again, it isn't 100% clear.

"Is due" turns into "is overdue" on day 31- a term that any client will soon get to know if they push their luck.

And finally, it's possible that "within 30 days from (a fixed time)" is correct but I'd use "of" myself. However, it isn't the client's responsibility to decide when this 30 days should start: the period starts with the invoice being issued. So it would normally read *of the invoice date^.

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Note added at 35 mins (2015-12-14 09:57:19 GMT)
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Sorry, I completely failed to address the specific question asked. I do of course agree with Tony's answer.

Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 13:25
Native speaker of:

English

Notes to answerer

Asker: Many thanks, that explained another part of my concern, viz. what preposition was supposed to be used after the amount of days. Take care!

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