English Tip – How to Know the Difference Between For and Since

This week our intern, Alice, has written a really useful English tip:

I would like to share a tip with you which my English teacher at school told me when I was learning English. I think it’s a really useful way to remember the difference between FOR and SINCE.

So here is it, enjoy!

FOR and SINCE are two prepositions to express how long an action has been taking place for.

Examples:
“Andy Murray has been a professional tennis player for 8 years.”
“Wimbledon has been taking place in London since 1877.”

However, they are not used in the same way. We have to differentiate between them:

Use FOR to express a period of time.

Trick to remember it:
You see the line on the letter F?…Imagine it with an arrow. It looks like a timeline, doesn’t it?
The action has been happening for a period of time…so we can imagine it on a timeline.

Examples:
“I’ve been living in London for 10 years.”
“I’ve been studying English in London for three weeks now.”
(’10 years’ and ‘3 weeks’ are periods of time.)

Use SINCE to talk about a specific point in time.

Trick to remember it:
You see the dot on the letter i?…Imagine now that it’s the beginning of the action. This moment is specific and short, just like doing a dot on a letter i!

Examples:
“I’ve been living in London since 2003.”
“I’ve been learning English at my school since the beginning of May.”
(‘2003’ and ‘the beginning of May’ are points in time.)

I hope this tip is going to be useful for you too! And please let me know if you have any other useful English language tips like this that you would like to share!

If you want a little challenge, have fun with this feature below.

Complete these sentences with for or since.

1. I usually study English _ 3 hours every day.
2. We’ve been married _ March last year.
3. I’ve been at work _ 7am this morning.
4. He’s been working at the bank _ a long time.
5. She’s been learning French _ she was 6 years old.
6. I’ve been reading this article _ 45 minutes and I still don’t understand it!
7. I’ve had this car _ about 2 years.
8. I haven’t spoken to her _ Christmas.
9. He’s been smoking _ he started university.
10. I’ve been studying at _ 9 months and now my English is perfect!

If you would really like to boost your knowledge, find English courses around the world:

• Study English in England
• Study English in Australia
• Study English in Ireland
• Study English in Malta
• Study English in USA
• Study English in South Africa