Since or For online test – Check your English grammar

When talking about ‘time’, Since or For is one of those annoying English grammar issues that every student gets wrong sooner or later.

READ THE RULES BELOW AND THEN TAKE OUR MULTIPLE-CHOICE GRAMMAR QUIZ

I was speaking to a German friend the other night who is an excellent English speaker, but he made a since/for mistake 3 times in a 10 minute conversation.

This shows that it is essential to learn proper English grammar rules when you are a beginning the start of your English journey (beginner or pre-intermediate English student), because it can be very very difficult to correct grammar problems later on. For example, with my friend, because he is great at speaking English I did not want to correct his English. If I had told him he was making a basic grammar mistake he would have been embarrassed.

How do you use since or for???

BASIC GRAMMAR RULE:
SINCE
Since + a point in time
‘Point in time’ Examples
10am, 14th February, last Wednesday, December, 2008
FOR
For + a period of time
‘Period of time’ examples
30 seconds, 10 minutes, 2 weeks, 6 months, 5 years

MORE GRAMMAR DETAILS:

SINCE

Since is normally used with the PERFECT grammar tenses, i.e. present perfect, present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, future perfect etc

Look at the Examples:

  • She has been sleeping since 2 o’clock. (Present perfect continuous)
  • We haven’t been on holiday since 2010. (present perfect)
  • I went back to my hometown last week. I hadn’t been there since I graduated. (Past perfect)

FOR

For can be used with ALL grammar tenses

For Example:

  • She studies for 8 hours a day just before the exams. (present simple)
  • I lived in Manchester for 2 years. (Past simple)
  • Can you believe that by this time next year, we will have been going out together for 7 years? (Future perfect continuous)
  • I’ve been studying English for 8 years (present continuous)

Since v For Online Quiz

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE…

Since vs For is included in our Common English mistakes video series (actually no#9).

1. Watch the COMMON ENGLISH MISTAKES video hereCOmmon English mistakes 9 I have known him for 3 years

2. CLICK HERE TO DO THE FREE ONLINE SGI GRAMMAR TEST. It’s free and it will give you an idea about your English level now in terms of grammar knowledge.

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