Time Duration Preposition Exercises

English uses several prepositions to talk about how long something lasts and when it happens within a time frame. For describes duration — how long something continues: "for three hours," "for two weeks," "for a long time." Since marks the starting point and is most commonly used with the present perfect: "I have lived here since 2019" (from that point until now). By means "not later than" — it sets a deadline: "Please finish by Friday" (on Friday or before). Until (or "till") means the action continues up to that point and then stops: "I will wait until 6 o'clock."

Two other important time words are during and while. "During" is followed by a noun and tells us when something happened: "I fell asleep during the film." "While" is followed by a subject and verb and means "at the same time as": "I fell asleep while I was watching the film." A common mistake is using "during" to mean "for" — "during" tells us when, not how long: say "for three hours" (not "during three hours"). These prepositions are frequently tested in Cambridge A2 and B1 examinations.