Tenses · CEFR B1 · Independent
for / since — English tenses
For measures a length: two years, an hour. Since names a moment it started: Monday, 2019, this morning.
The shape
for + a length of time · since + a starting point
Say how long, without the mistake everybody makes.
In Hindi
for अवधि बताता है — दो साल, एक घंटा। since शुरुआत का पल बताता है — सोमवार, 2019, आज सुबह।
CoCap explains every structure in both languages, because a rule you understand in Hindi is a rule you can use in English.
The mistake to fix first
The sentence Indian-English speakers actually produce, and the reason it is wrong.
| Commonly said | Correct English |
|---|---|
She is working here since three years. | She has been working here for three years. Three years is a length, so it takes for — and the whole sentence needs a perfect tense. |
Learn these first
These come first. The rest of this makes more sense once they are automatic.
Easy to confuse with
Close enough to be mixed up with this one. Knowing the difference is most of knowing either.
- Present Perfect ContinuousB2Say how long you have been doing something
- Present PerfectB1Talk about experience and about what has changed
Questions people ask
- What is the for / since used for?
- For measures a length: two years, an hour. Since names a moment it started: Monday, 2019, this morning. In practice: say how long, without the mistake everybody makes.
- How do you form the for / since?
- for + a length of time · since + a starting point.
- What is the most common mistake with the for / since?
- Saying “She is working here since three years.” instead of “She has been working here for three years.”. Three years is a length, so it takes for — and the whole sentence needs a perfect tense.
Where for / since fits
Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.
for / since is a CEFR B1 structure — the independent band — and it belongs to tenses. CoCap’s syllabus files every structure this way so you can learn in order instead of jumping between whatever a search happened to return.
Reading it is not the same as saying it.
CoCap turns this page into practice: Hindi sentence in, English sentence out, corrected one thing at a time. Free, no card.
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