waste time

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

which one is right?

Do not waste time “on” doing something / waste time “by” doing something.
or can I simply say…

Do not waste time on something.

2

Hi Bonychat,

All your examples are acceptable although I think ‘waste time doing something’ without a preposition is very common. You can of course use ‘waste time on’ with a noun as object.

Here are some examples:

bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=waste+t … ysubmit=Go

Alan

3

Thank you Sir,

I found a sentence in the link you have shared: “As a manager you should be much too busy to waste time on producing bits of paper.” So, if I use preposition, would it be wrong?

4

No. As I said above, all your examples are acceptable.