I'm an English teacher in Paris
I thought today I would record a video about one of the most common grammar questions I get.
And that is the difference between, "for", "since", "ago" and "during"
We use "for" to talk about a period of time. The focus here is on the length of time and
not when it happened so the phrase can be in the past in the future or in the present.
Here are some examples
I lived in Switzerland for 3 years.
I've been thinking about changing my job for a long time.
I want to stay here for a week.
I'll be available for 2 hours
"Since" is used to talk about the starting point of an action and it includes the time
from the starting point until now. And because we are looking at the past and the present
"since" is usually used with a perfect tense. We can use it with a date or time but
not necessarily it can be used with any phrase that indicates when something started. Let's
look at some examples
I've been working since 8am
We haven't seen each other since 2012
He moved next door last week and since then we've been trying to find out more about him.
I've lived in this house since I was born
With "ago" we talk about when something in happened in the past because of this we use
it with a past tense.
A long time ago I realized my future lay elsewhere.
he arrived six months ago.
I'm still recovering from the party we had 2 days ago.
We use "during" when we want to say what happened inside a particular period of time. We are
referring to when something happens but this can be in the present, future or the past.
Here are some examples.
During the meeting I drank 5 cups of coffee
During my skiing trip I broke my leg.
How about we visit a museum during your stay?
I'll pick up the package during my break.
One final point here
Don't confuse "During" and "for": Look at these 2 sentences.
I went to Italy for the summer I went to Italy during the summer.
What's the difference?
We use "for" to refer to the whole of a period So the first sentence I went to Italy
for the summer means that I was there all the summer.
To say when something happened but not its duration use "during". So I went to Italy
during the summer might mean that you were there for a day, a week, a month. We don't know.
Ok I guess that's it. I hope it was useful. More English language videos coming soon.