A. I’ve been staying here for five years.
B. I’ve been staying here since five years.
Which of the two sentences do you think is correct?
If you chose the first sentence – congratulations! You’re right!
If you chose the second one – congratulations to you as well, because you will be able to use both of these words correctly by the end of this article!
Let’s learn the major differences between the two so you never go wrong in future:
Since means “from a point in the past until now”. It is used for a precise moment in time like 6 o’clock, 10th October, Wednesday and so on.
E.g: I’m here since 5 p.m.
She’s a part of our club since 2012.
I’m working on this report since Monday.
For means “from the beginning of the period to the end of the period”. It is used for a duration of time like three days, several years, two centuries and so on.
E.g: Preeti was here for five days.
I can wait for an hour.
This antique has been in the museum for the past two decades.
Now you know what the error in the statement is –
A general time period (five years) is mentioned so we use ‘for’ and not ‘since’.
And if you wish to use since, then you need to mention a specific date, such as:
I’ve been staying here since 2016.
So, the answer can be either (b) or (c)