I was interviewing a candidate for a position in my team the other day, and here's an excerpt from the conversation:
Me : "How long have you been in this industry for?"
X: "I've been in the industry since four years."
Me (note to self - verify if this usage is correct, I've heard it too many times in the recent past) : Hmmm, OK.
The problem was that I'd heard this usage "since 4 years" or "since a long time" several times from people whom I usually highly respect for their linguistic skills. I was really in doubt, and I went back to some very trustworthy sources (not Wren and Martin, unfortunately, because I can't seem to find the copy that's been handed down three generations in the mess that's my study).
"Since" - denotes a point in time
"For" - denotes a period of time.
So, he could have answered this question in one of these ways :
"I've been in this industry since June 2007."
"I've been in this industry for four years."
So you see what I mean?
Me : "How long have you been in this industry for?"
X: "I've been in the industry since four years."
Me (note to self - verify if this usage is correct, I've heard it too many times in the recent past) : Hmmm, OK.
The problem was that I'd heard this usage "since 4 years" or "since a long time" several times from people whom I usually highly respect for their linguistic skills. I was really in doubt, and I went back to some very trustworthy sources (not Wren and Martin, unfortunately, because I can't seem to find the copy that's been handed down three generations in the mess that's my study).
"Since" - denotes a point in time
"For" - denotes a period of time.
So, he could have answered this question in one of these ways :
"I've been in this industry since June 2007."
"I've been in this industry for four years."
So you see what I mean?
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