Collins Cobuild English Grammar (100 page)

He hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep
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
.

noun phrases that express duration

4.133
  Note that with the verbs
last
,
wait
, and
stay
, which have duration as part of their meaning, the adverbial can be a noun phrase 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 adverbial can only be a noun phrase.

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.

approximate duration

4.134
  If you want to be less precise about how long something lasts, you can use one of the following words or expressions:
about
,
almost
,
nearly
,
around
,
more than
,
less than
, and so on.

They’ve lived there for
more than
thirty years.
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 you make a general statement about the duration of something, you can indicate the maximum period of time that it will last 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
, and
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
4.100
for details of this.

Talking about the whole of a period

4.135
  If you want to emphasize that something lasts for the whole of a period of time, you can use
all
as a determiner with many general time words.

‘I’ve been wanting to do this
all day
,’ she said.
I’ve been here
all night
.
They said you were out
all afternoon
.
We’ve not seen them
all summer
.

You can also use
whole
as a modifier in front of a general time word.

It took me
the whole of my first year
to adjust. …scientists who are monitoring food safety
the whole time
. …people who have not worked for
a whole year
.

You can also use
all through
,
right through
, and
throughout
with
the
and many general time words, or with a specific decade, year, month, or special period.

Discussions and arguments continued
all through the day
.
Right through the summer months
they are rarely out of sight.
Throughout the Sixties
, man’s first voyage to other worlds came closer.

Words referring to events are sometimes used instead of the time words to emphasize that something happened for the entire duration of the event.

He wore an expression of angry contempt
throughout the interrogation
.
A patient reported a dream that had recurred
throughout her life
.
All through the cruelly long journey home
, he lay utterly motionless.

4.136
  If you want to emphasize that something happens all the time, you can list periods of the day or seasons of the year, or mention contrasting ones.

…people coming in
morning, noon, and night
.
I’ve worn the same suit
summer, winter, autumn and spring
, for five years.
Thousands of slave labourers worked
night and day
to build the fortifications.
Ten gardeners used to work this land,
winter and summer
.
Each family was filmed
24/7
for six weeks.

24/7
is an abbreviation of
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
. It is used in informal English and in journalism.

Showing the start or end of a period

start time

4.137
  You can also show how long a situation lasts by using prepositional phrases to give the time when it begins or the time when it ends, or both.

If you want to talk about a situation that began in the past and is continuing now, or to consider a period of it from a time in the past to the present, you use the preposition
since
with a time adverbial or an event to show when the situation began. The verb is in the present perfect.

I’ve been here
since twelve o’clock
.
I haven’t had a new customer in here
since Sunday
.
Since January
, there hasn’t been any more trouble.
I haven’t been out
since Christmas
.
The situation has not changed
since 2001
.
There has been no word of my friend
since the revolution
.

Since
is also used to indicate the beginning of situations that ended in the past. The verb is in the past perfect.

I’d been working in London
since January
at a firm called Kendalls.
He hadn’t prayed once
since the morning
.
I’d only had two sandwiches
since breakfast
.

Since
can also be used with other prepositional phrases that indicate a point in time.

I haven’t seen you
since before the summer
.

The noun phrase after
since
can sometimes refer to a person or thing rather than a time or event, especially when used with a superlative,
first
, or
only
, or with a negative.

They hadn’t seen each other
since Majorca
.
I have never had another dog
since Jonnie
.
Ever
since London
, I’ve been working towards this.

4.138
  The time when a situation began can also be shown by using the preposition
from
and adding the adverb
on
or
onwards
. The noun phrase can be a date, an event, or a period. The verb can be in the past simple or in a perfect form.

…the history of British industry
from the mid sixties on
.
From the eighteenth century on
, great private palaces went up.
But
from the mid-1960s onwards
the rate of public welfare spending has tended to accelerate.
The family size starts to influence development
from birth
.
They never perceived that they themselves had forced women into this role
from childhood
. …the guide who had been with us
from the beginning
.

4.139
  You can also use the preposition
after
to give the time when a situation began.

They don’t let anybody in
after six o’clock
.
After 1929
I concentrated on canvas work.
He’d have a number of boys to help him through the summertime but
after October
he’d just have the one.

end time

4.140
  Similarly, if you want to say that a situation continues for some time and then stops, you can indicate the time when it stops by using the preposition
until
with a time adverbial or an event.

The school was kept open
until ten o’clock
five nights a week.
They danced and laughed and talked
until dawn
.
She walked back again and sat in her room
until dinner
.
I’ve just discovered she’s only here
until Sunday
.
He had been willing to wait
until the following summer
.
Until the end of the 18th century
little had been known about Persia.
Until that meeting
, most of us knew very little about him.

Until
can also be used in negative clauses to say that something did not or will not happen before a particular time.

We won’t get them
until September
.
My plane does not leave
until tomorrow morning
.

Until
is also used with other prepositional phrases that indicate a point in time.

I decided to wait
until after Easter
to visit John.

Some people use
till
instead of
until
, especially in informal English.

Sometimes I lie in bed
till nine o’clock
.

Up to
and
up till
are also sometimes used, mainly before
now
and
then
.

Up to now
, I have been happy with his work.
It was something he had never even considered
up till now
.
I had a three-wheel bike
up to a few years ago
but it got harder and harder to push it along.
Up to 1989
, growth averaged 1 per cent.