Adjuncts of duration

5.123 The following section explains ways of indicating now long something lasts or takes.

Some adverbs and adverbial expressions can be used to indicate the duration of an event or state. Here is a list of adverbs which are used to indicate duration:

always briefly

for ever indefinitely

long overnight

permanently temporarily

She glanced briefly at Lucas Simmonds.

You won't live for ever.

The flat had been let to them by one of Daisy's friends who was temporarily in America.

'Briefly' and 'permanently' can be used in the comparative.

This new revelation had much the same outward effect, though more briefly.

Urging them reduces the appetite further and more permanently.

The form 'long' is only used as an adverb in negative clauses, and questions.

I haven't been in England long.

How long does it take on the train?

In positive clauses, it is used in expressions such as 'a long time' and prepositional phrases such as 'for a long time'. However, the comparative and superlative forms 'longer' and 'longest' can be used in positive and negative clauses.

Then of course you'll go win Parry. She's been your friend longer.

I've been thinking about it a lot longer than you.

She remained the longest.

In affirmative and negative 'if'-clauses, you can use 'for long'.

If she's away for long we won't be able to wait.

5.124 However, prepositional phrases are more commonly used. The following prepositions are used in adjuncts of duration:

after before for

from in since

throughout to until

The prepositional object can be a noun group referring to a specific period of time. This can be in the singular after the determiner 'a' (or 'one' for emphasis), or in the plural after a number or quantifier.

The noun group can also refer to an indefinite period, for example expressions such as 'a long time', 'a short while', 'a while', or 'ages', or plural time words such as 'hours'.

'for' for length of time 5.125 The preposition 'for' indicates how long something continues to happen.

Is he still thinking of going away to Italy for a month?

The initial battle continued for an hour.

This precious happy time lasted for a month or two.

The machine was completely immobilized for ten minutes.

We were married for fifteen years.

I didn't speak for a long time.

She would have liked to sit for a while and think.

You use 'the' instead of 'a' when the period of time is already known with seasons, periods of the day, and 'weekend', or when you modify the time word with words like 'past', 'coming', 'following', 'next', 'last', or an ordinal.

Tell Aunt Elizabeth you're off for the day.

We've been living together for the past year.

For the first month or two I was bullied constantly.

For the next few days he remained prone on his bed in his quarters.

Put them in cold storage for the winter.

I said I'm off to Brighton for the weekend.

Remember that you do not use a determiner with special periods of the year.

At least come for Christmas.

5.126 'For' can also be used with specific time expressions to indicate the time when something is to be used, not how long it takes of lasts.

Everything was placed exactly where I wanted it for the morning.

5.127 'For' can also be used in negative statement when you want to say that something need not or will not happen until a certain period of time has passed. 'Yet' is often added.

It won't be ready to sail for another three weeks.

I don't have to decide for a month yet.

'for' for emphasis 5.128 'For' is used with a plural noun group to emphasize how long something lasts.

Settlers have been coming here for centuries.

I don't think he's practised much for years.

I've been asking you about these doors for months.

USAGE NOTE 5.129 You can also use a general time word with 'after' followed by the same general time word to emphasize that a state continues for a long time or that an action is repeated continuously for a long time.

A village sees the same hands century after century.

They can go on making losses, year after year, without fearing that they will go bust.

'in' and 'within' for end of a period 5.130 'In' is used to indicate that something happens or will happen before the end of a certain period of time. In more formal English 'within' is used.

Can we get to the airport in an hour?

That coat must have cost you more than I make in a year.

The face of a city can change completely in a year.

Some may form the basis of a new anti-Aids drug within a year or two.

5.131 'In' and 'within' are also used to indicate that something only took or takes a short time.

The clouds evaporated in seconds.

What an expert can do in minutes may take you hours to accomplish.

Within a few months, the barnyard had been abandoned.

5.132 'For' and 'in' can be used in negative statements to say that something does not happen during a period of time. You can use them in this way with specific units of time, and with more general time references.

He hadn't had a proper night's steep for a month.

I haven't seen a chart for forty years!

The team had not heard from Stabler in a month.

He hasn't slept in a month.

I haven't seen him for years.

Let's have a dinner party. We haven't had one in years.

I haven't fired a gun in years.

5.133 Note that with the verbs 'last', 'wait', and 'stay', which have duration as part of their meaning, the adjunct of duration can be a noun group instead of a prepositional phrase with 'for'.

The campaign lasts four weeks at most.

His speech lasted for exactly 14 and a half minutes.

'Wait a minute,' the voice said.

He stayed a month, five weeks, six weeks.

The verbs 'take' and 'spend' can also indicate duration but the adjunct of duration can only be a noun group.

It took me a month to lose that feeling of being a spectator.

What once took a century now took only ten months.

He spent five minutes washing and shaving.

5.134 If you want to be less precise about now long something lasts, you can use one of the following approximating adverbs or approximating expressions: 'about', 'almost', 'nearly', 'around', 'more than', 'less than', and so on.

The family had controlled the time for more than a century.

They have not been allowed to form unions for almost a decade.

The three of us travelled around together for about a month that summer.

In less than a year, I learned enough Latin to pass the entrance exam.

He had been in command of HMS Churchill for nearly a year.

When making a general statement about the duration of something, you can indicate the maximum period of time that it will fast or take by using 'up to'.

Refresher training for up to one month each year was the rule for all.

You can also use expressions such as 'or so', 'or more', 'or less', 'or thereabouts' to make the duration less specific.

He has been writing about tennis and golf for forty years or so.

Our species probably practised it for a million years or more.

...hopes which have prevailed so strongly for a century or more.

'Almost', 'about', 'nearly', and 'thereabouts' are also used when talking about when an event takes place; see paragraph 5.99 for details of this.