Mastering Prepositions of Time: Intermediate Guide

Once you feel confident using basic time words like in, on, and at, it is time to expand your toolkit. Intermediate prepositions of time allow you to describe deadlines, durations, and ongoing events with genuine precision. In this lesson, we will explore the essential prepositions you need to express complex schedules and daily routines naturally.

Duration: "For" vs. "During"

One of the most frequent dilemmas intermediate learners face is choosing between for and during. While both refer to periods of time, they function quite differently in a sentence.

• Use for with a period or quantity of time (a number + time unit). It answers the question “How long?”
• I have lived in this city for five years.
• She studied at the library for three hours yesterday.
• We will stay in Rome for two weeks.

• Use during with a noun representing an event, activity, or named period. It answers the question “When did something happen?”
• My phone rang twice during the meeting.
• We met several interesting people during our vacation.
• It rained heavily during the night.

Quick rule: Never use during directly with a number of hours or days. Say for three days, not during three days.

Starting Points: "Since" vs. "From"

When you want to describe when an action began, since and from are your primary choices, but their grammatical pairings differ.

• Use since with a specific starting point in the past to show that an action began then and continues up to the present moment. Because it connects past to present, it almost always requires a present perfect tense.
• I haven't seen Marcus since last Tuesday.
• She has worked here since 2018.
• They have been best friends since childhood.

• Use from to show a starting point in the past, present, or future, especially when paired with to or until.
• The office is open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
• I will be on annual leave starting from next Monday.

Deadlines and Limits: "By" vs. "Until"

Mixing up by and until can lead to missed appointments or misunderstandings at work. Here is how to keep them clear.

• Use by to express a deadline—meaning at that time or anytime before it.
• Please submit the quarterly report by Friday at 5:00 PM.
• I need to finish cooking dinner by the time the guests arrive.
• He hopes to buy a home by the age of thirty.

• Use until (or the informal till) to show that a continuous state or action continues up to a specific point and then stops.
• We talked in the cafe until midnight.
• Wait here until the rain stops.
• The store will remain open until 9:00 PM tonight.

Memory trick: If the verb is an instant action (submit, arrive, finish), use by. If the verb is an ongoing state (wait, stay, sleep, work), use until.

Time Boundaries: "Within" and "Throughout"

To sound even more natural and expressive, add these two versatile prepositions to your active vocabulary:

• Use within to mean before a certain period ends.
• Your order will be delivered within forty-eight hours.
• Can you complete this assignment within a week?

• Use throughout to emphasize that something happened continuously from the beginning to the end of a period.
• The baby cried throughout the entire flight.
• The museum is popular with tourists throughout the year.

Common mistakes

Take note of these frequent pitfalls so you can avoid them in your speaking and writing:

• Incorrect: I stayed in London during two weeks.
• Correct: I stayed in London for two weeks. (Use for with quantities of time.)
• Incorrect: I have been waiting here since two hours.
• Correct: I have been waiting here for two hours. OR I have been waiting here since 2:00 PM. (Use for for duration, since for a specific moment.)
• Incorrect: I must finish this report until 4:00 PM.
• Correct: I must finish this report by 4:00 PM. (Finishing is a single moment; it is a deadline.)
• Incorrect: I will call you in Monday.
• Correct: I will call you on Monday. (Remember basic rules still apply to days of the week!)

Practice it today

Test your understanding right now by filling in the blanks with the correct preposition (for, during, since, by, or until):

1. Can you send me the contract __________ noon tomorrow? I need to review it before lunch.
2. We didn't say a single word __________ the movie because it was so intense.
3. My brother has been playing the guitar __________ he was eight years old.

Answer key 1. by (indicates a deadline before noon) 2. during (used with a noun event, "the movie") 3. since (indicates a specific starting point in the past with the present perfect tense)