Present Perfect Since and For Exercises

Since and for are two of the most important time expressions used with the present perfect, and confusing them is one of the most common errors at A2-B1 level. For is followed by a period of time — a duration that tells you how long something has lasted: "for three hours," "for two years," "for ages," "for a long time." It answers the question "How long?" Since is followed by a point in time — a specific moment when the action started: "since Monday," "since 2020," "since breakfast," "since I was a child." It answers the question "Since when?"

A reliable trick: if you can replace the time expression with a number (three hours, two years, five minutes), use for. If the expression names a specific date, day, event, or moment, use since. Note that "since" can be followed by a clause with a past simple verb: "since I moved here," "since we last met." Both "since" and "for" can also be used with the present perfect continuous: "I have been waiting for an hour" / "I have been waiting since two o'clock." In Cambridge and IELTS exams, since-vs-for questions appear in gap-fill and sentence transformation tasks.