Since/For (Opinion for Native Speakers of BE mostly)
I've been studying English since the age of five.
I've been studying English for twenty-five years.
These examples seem fine to me, but do native speakers of British English EVER say "I've been studying since twenty-five years,"?
This sounds awkward and incorrect to me as a speaker of American English.
Substitute "for" in place of "since" and you have the British English way on this one. The other just sounds too American in British ears so the vast majority of us never use it. It does sound "incorrect" to us but obviously not to them way out west across the watery Great Divide.
Damian: I do wonder about you some times. It seems that you have no clue at all what the hell you are talking about.
K.: The use of "since" in "I've been studying since twenty-five years" is not something an American would say. Take anything Damian says with a grain of salt. More and more he seems to be incapable of giving an accurate answer to the simplest question. The use of since indicates a fixed historical mark. "I have been reading since I was four" or "I have been reading since I went to preschool" or "I have been reading since 1985" are correct uses of the word since in BE and GA. If you are indicateing a period of time rather than a fixed point when something occured or began, you use "for".
<<Substitute "for" in place of "since" and you have the British English way on this one. The other just sounds too American in British ears so the vast majority of us never use it. It does sound "incorrect" to us but obviously not to them way out west across the watery Great Divide.>>
Nobody says "I've been studying since twenty-five years", on either side of any ocean. At least, not in English!
Thank-you Uriel and Wintereis. Damian, I'm not sure what you meant in your answer, but I'd be glad to see an example.
A " professional language person" used "since" in the way I mentioned.
It just sounded wrong to me, but I wanted to check and make sure that it was not used in that way by any native speakers of British English.
Damian is wrong about American English but right about British English.
Damian's message was not clear. I'm not sure what he considers British usage and American usage.
K:
You asked this question:
***These examples seem fine to me, but do native speakers of British English EVER say "I've been studying since twenty-five years,"?***
I simply replied by saying "No", they don't - EVER. British English speakers just do not say it that way.
"I've been studying for twenty five years" is the form we use.
Is that not clear enough for you? I don't know how else to put it.
"I've been studying since twenty five years" sounds very American but now I read that it isn't in actual fact, so I'm not sure where you got it from to be honest with you, K.
Perhaps you stumbled across a pissed up Glaswegian late one Saturday night or something, who knows, but I doubt very much that your average pissed up Glaswegian would have wasted twenty five years of valuable drinking time by studying anything other than the betting forms.
Now, I have my answer. Thanks, Damian!
I hope that you are doing okay, Damian.
Never felt better, K.....cheers for your concern and I hope you're in top form, too.
Guid nicht.
Damien rarely knows what he is talking about. Please disregard his comments.
No American would ever say "I've been studying since twenty-five years." That usage sounds more German than anything else. ("Ich studiere seit fünfundzwanzig Jahren.")
The AE usage in this case is identical to BE. Americans would say "I have been studying English for twenty-five years." What makes you think that Americans would say this sentence any differently?
What about "I've been studying English since twenty-five years ago." ?
Now that you can say, Lechat. As well as, "I've been studying English since 1985" or "I've been studying English since I was in high school."