FOR, AGO & SINCE (Grammar Check!)

66,913 views ・ 2023-07-11

mmmEnglish


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hey there, I'm Emma from mmmEnglish.
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In this lesson,
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you are going to master some important English prepositions.
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Three little prepositions that often get mixed up by my
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students.
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For, since and ago.
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They all help us to talk about time,
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and although they are all often used to talk about past time,
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they are each used in quite a specific way.
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So we are going to cover off everything that you need to know about
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for, since and ago right now.
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And at the end you can check that you can use these English
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prepositions accurately
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with a little test that I've made for you.
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Let's dive in.
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Ago is a preposition of time.
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We use it together with an amount of time,
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an amount of time like
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one minute, two hours, three weeks,
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ten years, any amount of time.
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And it describes how long before the present time that an
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action or an event took place.
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We often use it to answer the question about when.
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When did Sarah move to Sydney?
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She moved to Sydney ten years ago.
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It's 2023 now.
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This action took place ten years in the past
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in 2013.
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It happened ten years ago.
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Ago always comes at the end of a sentence or clause
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just like this.
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I talked to him a few minutes ago.
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He sent the letter three days ago.
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Now,
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do you notice what tense each of these sentences are in?
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Exactly, the past simple.
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We use ago in sentences that are in the simple past.
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We use it to describe completed actions in the past and
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when or how far back into the past that they occurred.
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So let's look at a few more examples now.
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I started learning English three months ago.
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I ate lunch about an hour ago.
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They left ten minutes ago.
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So I want you to think about the last time that you
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ate a sandwich
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and finish this sentence in the comments for me.
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The last time I ate a sandwich was about a week ago.
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For is also used to express a length of time or a period of time,
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but we use it before an amount of time to describe
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how long an action or an event takes place.
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How long has Sarah lived in Sydney?
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She's lived in Sydney for ten years.
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Remember,
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it's 2023 now.
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Sarah moved to Sydney ten years ago,
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so I can use ago to say when she moved,
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but if I want to emphasise how long
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the length of time that she's lived there,
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then I use for.
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The amount of time that she has lived in Sydney
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is ten years.
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She's lived there for ten years.
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We often use for with perfect tenses,
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especially when we want to talk about something that
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started in the past and continues up until the present.
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They'd only been waiting for two minutes.
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They've been friends for a long time.
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So we can use for with a precise amount of time like
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two minutes,
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or with a time phrase that describes a less precise
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amount of time,
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like a long time.
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So hit pause for a moment and write me a sentence
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down in the comments.
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I want you to look at the clothes that you are wearing
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and write a sentence about
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how long you've owned that piece of clothing.
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This jumper is still new.
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I've owned it for about a month.
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Now
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for simply describes an amount or a duration of time.
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So while it is really common to use it in perfect tenses,
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you can also use it in other tenses too.
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We spoke for one minute.
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We'll be away for seven days.
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We go on holiday for two weeks every year.
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Prepositions eight by eight is a step-by-step course
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for intermediate to advance learners to go beyond
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the basics and to learn eight different ways to use
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eight prepositions in everyday spoken English.
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You'll learn some advanced word patterns
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that are going to take your English skills to the next level.
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Plus every lesson includes an interactive speaking practice with
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me using the English Imitation Technique.
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Now, of course, I have a free lesson for you to try
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so you can see what you think for yourself.
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Just click the link in the description or follow that one up there
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and enrol and try it out for yourself.
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Now since is a preposition of time that is commonly used
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with perfect tenses.
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We use it before a time, a day,
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or a date to describe the precise moment that
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an action or a state began.
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Like for, we use since to describe how long
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something has been happening,
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How long has Sarah lived in Sydney?
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She's lived there
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since 2013.
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So while we can use both for and since to describe
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how long an action or a state has been happening,
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for focuses on the length of time or the duration.
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And since focuses on the exact moment
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that an action or a state began.
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She's lived in Sydney since 2013.
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2013 is the moment that she started living in Sydney.
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If somebody asks you:
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How long have you worked here?
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You can answer that question with for or since.
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It just depends on what you want to emphasise.
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If you want to emphasise the duration or the precise moment
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that that state started.
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I've worked here for two months.
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I've worked here since the start of June.
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Since describes the precise moment and action began
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and how long it has been in progress up until now or up until
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a specific moment in time. And so for this reason,
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we need to use it with a perfect verb tense.
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So I'll show you some examples.
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I've wanted a pony since I was a little girl.
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He's been waiting since yesterday.
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They've been watching telly since early in the morning.
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So notice that you can also use since
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with a general
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time phrase as well.
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Since the early morning.
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Okay,
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so let's test your skills and find out if you can use these
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three important prepositions perfectly.
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You'll see a question come up on screen just like this,
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and your job is to choose the correct preposition:
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for, since or ago.
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In this case,
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it needs to be ago. We're describing how far back in the past
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an action happened.
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A few days ago.
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Are you ready?
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Let's go.
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He has been there
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since 2020.
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He has lived in Darwin
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for two years already.
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My brother went to Darwin
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two years ago.
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She's been working there
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for three hours.
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She started working in the garden three hours
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ago.
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She's been there
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since 2:00 PM
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I met her twenty years
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ago.
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I've known Brooke
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since I was at uni.
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I've known her for a long time.
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So how did you go?
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Tell me down in the comments if you aced that test.
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And while you're down there,
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write three sentences for me using
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for, since and ago.
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One in each sentence.
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Tell me about the place that you live now,
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the city or the town that you live in.
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I first moved to Perth
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eleven years ago.
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I've been living here on and off for nine years.
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I've lived in my current house since 2020.
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So share your sentences down in the comments below
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and I'll see you in the next lesson.
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Thanks for watching.
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