Imagine your child wanting to explain in English how long they’ve been playing with their favorite toy since when they’ve been going to basketball practice! In those exact moments, two small but incredibly powerful words come to our rescue: “For” and “Since.” These two words, which we frequently use in English to describe situations that started in the past and continue today, are actually wonderful tools for children to share their daily lives, hobbies, and memories.
Even though they might seem very similar at first glance, there is a little secret between them that kids can easily grasp! In this blog post, we are leaving boring grammar rules completely behind and discovering the “For” and “Since” patterns using the simplest words, fun examples, and a style perfectly tailored to a child’s world. If you’re ready, let’s begin this sweet journey that will bring a touch of time to your child’s English sentences!
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When Is “For” Used?
In English, we use the word “for” when talking about “how long” an action has been going on. So, what matters here is not the start of the time, but the total duration that has passed! When explaining this to children, we can have them imagine a timer or a stopwatch: the answer to the question “Exactly how many hours, how many days, or how many years did this take?” always gives us the word “for”.
Time Expressions Commonly Used with “For”
We have gathered the most common time periods so that children can understand where they will see the word “for” in a sentence. If we can count time as a duration or an amount, we use these expressions.
– For 5 minutes
– For 3 hours
– For 4 days
– For 6 months
– For 2 years
– For a long time
– For ages
Example Sentences with “For”
Now, let’s see these time expressions in fun sentences chosen with the simplest words that children can use in their daily lives:
– “My sister slept for 10 hours yesterday.”
– “We have lived in this house for 3 years.”
– “He played with his toy car for an hour.”
– “I have been a student at this school for 5 months.”
– “They talked on the phone for 20 minutes.”
When Is “Since” Used?
In English, we use the word “since” when talking about “exactly when” an action started in the past. So, what matters here is not the total duration that has passed, but that very first moment the action began meaning the starting point! When explaining this to children, we can have them imagine pointing a finger at a specific day, hour, or year in the past on a calendar.
Time Expressions Commonly Used with “Since”
The most common of those clear and specific starting times in the past that children can bring after the word “since” are as follows:
– Since Monday
– Since 2020
– Since 8 o’clock
– Since morning
– Since last week
– Since I was a baby
– Since yesterday
Example Sentences with “Since”
Now, let’s see these starting times in very simple and understandable example sentences from children’s own worlds:
– “I have been at home since morning.”
– “We have been friends since 2022.”
– “It has been raining since yesterday.”
– “She has loved chocolate since she was 5 years old.”
– “My dad has been at work since 9 o’clock.”
What Are the Differences Between “For” and “Since”?
The most fun way to tell the words “for” and “since” apart is actually hidden in the question we ask our sentence. If we can ask our sentence “How long did this action last?” and can count the time one by one with our fingers in the answer, the word we are looking for must definitely be “for”. Because “for” represents the total amount of time that has passed—meaning the total duration of that process. For example, we should use the word “for” in all cases that have a number and a time unit in front, such as 3 hours, 5 days, or 2 years.
On the other hand, if we don’t want to mention the time passed but just want to state “exactly when that action first started” in the past, that’s when “since” comes into play. We ask the word “since” the question “Exactly when did this action start?”. Here, we cannot count the time; we just look for the starting point on the calendar. For example, since we always point to the starting point when saying since yesterday, since the year 2020, or since childhood, we use “since”.
Frequently Asked Questions About Using “For” and “Since” in English
Let’s take a look at the frequently asked questions about the use of “for” and “since” together.
Are the words “for” and “since” only used with the Present Perfect Tense?
Generally yes, because these two words describe situations that started in the past and still continue today. However, “for” can also be used with the Simple Past Tense when describing a period of time that ended in the past. For example, we can say “I lived in London for 2 years”.
Can a full sentence (subject + verb) come after the word “since”?
Yes, it can. After the word “since,” you can use a past event as a starting point, not just a year or a day. The only thing you need to be careful about here is that the sentence following “since” must always be in the past tense (Simple Past). For example: “I have been happy since I bought this toy.”
Are there alternative words that children can use in daily language instead of “for” and “since”?
When indicating a duration instead of “for,” sometimes the sentence keeps its meaning even if we don’t use any word at all. For example: “I slept 8 hours”. Instead of “since,” if you want to emphasize that something has been happening from the very start, you can teach your children phrases that are very popular in daily language, such as “from the very beginning” or “all along”.
Where are the words “for” and “since” located in a sentence?
Since both of these words are prepositions or conjunctions in English, they always take their place right at the beginning of the time expression or sentence they specify; they never come after the time word. (e.g., since 2020 / for 5 hours)
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