Mr.Maru: How long have you been studying English Sparky?

Sparky: I've been studying English since 5 years.

Mr.Maru: Wow, for five years?

Sparky: Yeah, I started when I was just a puppy.

Mr.Maru: That's pretty good.

Sparky: I've been going to English classes now from I was 1 year old.

Mr.Maru: I think you need more practice.

How do you use 'for' and 'since'? What is the difference? Before, we went over the differences between 'from' and 'since' when talking about time. This post we are going to go over the differences between 'for' and 'since'. Let's look at some examples and rules.

The Basic Use of 'for'

We can use 'for' to say how long something lasts. We can use it with any verb tense. For example,

I studied for 6 hours last night.

The Gion Festival runs for 2 weeks every year.
She'll be vacationing in Australia for 3 weeks.

We don't have to use 'for' when speaking informal English. For example,

How long have you been studying English (for)?
I've been studying English (for) 3 years.

We also leave 'for' out completely when we use 'all'.

I've been working on the car all day.

How to use 'for' with perfect tenses

We can use 'for' with perfect tenses to talk about a period of time. It is used to talk about a duration of time up to the present. For example,

I've known my best friend for 5 years. I met him when I moved to New York.

I've been working at the Smith Company for 3 years now.
I had been living in Chicago for 6 months when I met your mother.

How to use 'since' with perfect tenses

We can use 'since' with perfect tenses to talk about a starting point. It is also used to talk about a duration of time up to the present. For example,

I've liked apple pie since I was a child.

It's been snowing since morning.
They'd been watching TV when the earthquake hit.

Do you think you understand? Let's take a short quiz.

1) He's been breeding dogs ____ 4 years.

A) for
B) since
C) from

2) Jenny went to the library ___ a couple of hours.

A) for

B) since
C) from

3) Mark has been working here ______ two weeks ago.

A) for

B) since
C) from

Answers

1) – A) – When we talk about periods of time and perfect tense, we must use 'for'.

2) – A) – We are talking about a duration of time (a couple of hours) so we need to use 'for'.

3) – B) – When we use 'ago' after the period of time, we can use 'since'.

That's it for this week. If you have a question about grammar, please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it