Grammar - Using "Since" and "For" with the Present Perfect

Hi, this is Alex, and welcome to this lesson on using "for" and "since."

Now we use these two terms when we want to talk about something that began in the past.

So the tenses that you'll most often be using "for" and "since" with will be the present

perfect and the present perfect progressive.

So when we use "for" and "since," again, we want to, depending on if you want to talk

about for how long you have been doing something versus when you began doing something, you'll

use one or the other.

For instance, we use "for" when we want to talk about how long we have been doing something.

So we're talking about a specific duration of time.

For instance, I have lived in Canada for five years, for example.

When we use "since," we talk about when we began doing something, at which point we started

something.

I have known how to drive since 1996, or something like that.

Okay, so let's look at the examples that we have on the board.

So remember, we use "for" when we want to talk about how long we've been doing something,

and we use "since" when we talk about at which point we began doing something.

Okay, so "It has rained _______ 9 a.m."

Okay, so we know that 9 a.m. is a specific time, right?

So a specific time in the past, we would use "since."

It has rained since 9 a.m.

Okay, let's look at the second example, also dealing with rain.

"It has rained _______ 3 hours."

Now unlike 9 a.m., we know 9 a.m. is a specific time in the past, right?

Three hours is a span of time, how long something has been happening.

It has rained for 3 hours.

Remember, a span of time, we use "for."

Okay, let's continue.

"I have known how to read _______ grade 3," or since the 3rd grade, if you want to be

specific.

Okay, so grade 3, again, is a specific moment in the past, right?

It already happened.

So let's look at our rules, and it would be "since."

Right, so grade 3 is not a specific span of time.

Grade 3 is something that has happened, it's finished, it's over.

So let's look at the next one.

"She's been waiting _______ 45 minutes."

Again, 45 minutes, specific span of time, right?

So she's been waiting for 45 minutes.

Okay, and finally, "I have lived here _______ 4 years."

So again, we have 3 hours, 45 minutes, 4 years, all measures of specific period of time, so

we use "for" in that case.

I have lived here for 4 years.

Okay, so just a reminder, when you're using "for," you're talking about a specific duration

of time, how long something has been happening, versus when you use "since," which tells a

person when you began doing something, or a specific moment in the past, okay?

If you'd like to do a quiz on this lesson, please check out www.engvid.com.

My name is Alex, take care.