When to use SINCE, FOR and DURING | English Grammar

In this week's lesson, we'll clear up the differences between the use of Since, For and During, as they often get confused by learners of English.

To jump straight to the section you want:

1. When should I use 'FOR' [00:33]

2. When do I use 'SINCE'? [02:30]

3. When do I use 'DURING' [05:28]

But just to give you a quick overview:

Use FOR with a period of time.

Use SINCE with a specific point in time.

Use DURING for an event

There are also some quick quizzes in the video to help you practice.

TRANSCRIPT

- Kathryn, how long have you lived in the Basque Country?

- I've lived in the Basque Country for about four years.

Yeah, since 2016.

Okay, you just demonstrated a really interesting grammar point.

What?

You used for and since in the same sentence.

Let's look at those two words in a little more detail.

For talks about a period or duration of time.

It is often, but not always followed by an exact number.

But it has to be a period of time.

For example,

- I've known him for eight years

- I've lived here for ages

- He waited for the train for two hours

- They've been married for a long time

- I'm going to Paris for the weekend

As you can see,

You can use the past, the present or the future to display these periods of time.

For example,

- Last week, I went to Paris for two nights.

- I am in Paris for two nights

or

- I have been in Paris for two nights

- I'm going to Paris next week for two nights

When you want to ask,

How long something has been going on? ,

We usually ask the ‘How long’ structure.

If the answer

For example, if the answer is going to be,

- I am going to Paris next week for two nights

What do you think the question is?

Some of you might answer,

- For how long are you going to Paris?

And while this is grammatically correct, it is way too formal and we rarely use it when speaking or even writing.

It's much better to use,

- How long are you going to Paris for?

With the for at the end.

Let's try another one,

The answer is

- They've been married for 50 years

What's the question?

Yes it's

- How long have they been married for?

not

- For how long have they been married?

Since - on the other hand, refers to a specific point or moment in the past.

For example,

- Paul has lived in France since 2016

- Jessica has only been learning English since January

- They've been going out since they were teenagers, they're so in love

Most of the time when we use since, it means the action is not finished.

So we can't use the past tense.

In this case, we always use the present perfect.

For example,

- They'd be going out since they were teenagers, they're so in love

It's not finished, they're still going out.

But sometimes, we use the past perfect when we are talking about a moment in the past.

For example,

- They had been going out since they were teenagers, they were so in love

This action - both actions are finished,

They're no longer in love and they're no longer going out.

Okay,

I want you to spot and fix the mistakes in the following sentences.

QUIZ

- He is out of the office since you last phoned

- I have known him since I am a child

- I have lived in France since four years

Now, I want you to pause this video and try and work out how to fix these sentences.

So how did you go?

ANSWERS

- He has been out of the office since you last phoned

- I have known him since I was a child

- I have lived in France for 4 years

Yes!

The first one,

We need the present perfect in here.

In the second one,

We need the past simple because you are no longer a child

So we use was

What's in the third example,

We use for because it's a period of time not a moment in time.

Now, you will also hear since at the beginning of a sentence when you ask a question.

If asked in a neutral tone and it's a neutral type of question, this is fine.

For example,

- Since when have you lived in Dublin?

It's a neutral question with a neutral tone but more often than not, these since questions have an undertone or have a tone of surprise or shock or even sarcasm.

For example,

- I know, since when have you had a girlfriend?

- Since one have you ever trusted anybody?

- Since when this chick has red hair?

If that's the angle you want to go for, then by all means use it.

But if you want to avoid any awkwardness in conversations, do not use the since questions, Instead, use the how long format we used previously.

- How long have you had a girlfriend?

- How long have you lived in Dublin?

Now,

I wanted to add a quick lesson on the use of during because I often hear this,

- During five years, I travelled the world

This is not correct what should it be?

Is it?

- Since five years, I've been travelling the world

Because note, there are two mistakes here.

First, we should not use since because five years is a period of time.

and since implies you are still travelling the world,

which is not the case in this sentence.

So, yes the answer is,

- For five years, I travelled the world

or

- I travelled the world for five years

So when do we use during?

We use during to tell people that something happened during an event in the past,

not a time period and not a precise moment.

It is followed by a noun

For example,

- During my trip to Singapore, I discovered that cars cost as much as houses there

- They were making so much noise during the movie that I decided to leave

- I always fall asleep during long sales meetings

- I tend to surf a lot during summer but during winter I like to go to the gym

- We hid under a table during the earthquake

Do you get the idea?

Well, that was just a little lesson on for, since and during.

Here's a little synopsis of the rules we went over today.

SYNOPSIS

FOR - period of time(any tense) - not used at the beginning of questions.

SINCE - moment in time(present or past perfect) - not recommended in questions.

DURING - in an event(any tense) - can be used in questions

Now, I hope that its much clearer for you and I

And if you have any questions or comments, again put them in the comments below whether it be Facebook, Instagram or below the video in Youtube.

I would be very happy to answer your questions.

And a little challenge for you, if you have any sentences using for and since, and you want to see if they're correct,

Again put them in the comments and I'll gladly correct them for you.

Now, as always if you liked the video and found it useful, click like and of course subscribe for new videos.

And don't forget to hit the bell because then you'll be told when a new video is coming.

Speaking of which, next week we're going to be talking about the future.

Now, I don't know if you knew, but we have 4 different types of futures, and actually we have more.

But next week, I'm going to cover the four main ones and it will be very interesting lessons.

So stay tuned for that.

OK, Bye Bye.

See you next week : )

Say hi on social media:

→ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/learnenglishwithkathryn

→ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/learnenglishwithkathryn

→ Website: http://www.englishwithkathryn.com​

→ Business Inquiries: contact@englishwithkathryn.com

#whentousesinceforandduring #sinceforandduring #usingsinceforandduring #presentperfectwith #presentperfectwithforsince #presentperfectwithsinceandforشرح #sinceenglishgrammar #forenglishgrammar #duringenglishgrammar #prepositionsinenglishgrammar #forsinceuse #forsinceenglish #forsincepresentperfect #forsinceesl #forsinceشرح احم فزي #forsinceشرح #englishwithkathryn