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PREPOSITIONS SHOWING DURATION COMMON MISTAKES TENSES WITH “SINCE”

“From… to…” or “between… and…” are used “Since” is usually used The present perfect continuous
to say when an activity starts and finishes. with perfect tenses with is often used with since.
“From” is used “To” is used “Between” is used “And” is used reference to the past. It
to say the time to say the time to say the time to say the time is not used with the
something starts. something finishes. something starts. something finishes. present simple.

Since can’t be used with the present simple.
9AM 5PM

“Until” can be used to say when an “Since” can be used to say when OTHER PREPOSITIONS OF TIME
ongoing situation finishes. an ongoing situation started. “BY” + TIME
“By” is used to talk about
“UNTIL” + TIME OR DATE “SINCE” + TIME OR DATE when something will be
done or finished. It means
“at” or “before.”

NOW 3PM
9AM 5PM 9AM NOW

“Before” is used to “BEFORE” + TIME
talk about something
“For” can be used to express “FOR” + QUANTITY OF TIME that happens prior
how long something has to something else
been happening.
or a certain time.

NOW 6PM
6 HOURS AGO NOW

“After” is used to refer
“During” can be used to to an event that follows
express when something was another event.
happening, rather than how
long it went on for.

BREAK NOW NOW BREAK FUTURE

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