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Kooyeen Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

for long

0 Hi,02br
00I have a big problem! I am not sure how to use01i01b00 (for) long 02b02i00in questions and negative sentences. Should I leave out 01i01b00for02b02i00 in American English?02br
02br
01i00Don't worry. I haven't waited (for) long.02br
00Don't worry. I haven't been waiting (for) long.02br
00I'm not tired yet. I haven't written (for) long.02br
00I'm not tired yet. I haven't been writing (for) long.02br
00I want to stay some more. I haven't been here (for) long.02br
00I've never spoken (for) long in front of an audience.02br
00I don't know what happens if you try for more than three hours, I've never tried (for) long.02i02br
00Have you been studying (for) long?02br
02br
00Cases like those give me a headache. Some sound bad, some sound bad without 01i00for02i00, and I don't know why. If I try to search for "I haven't waited for long" on Google, I only get two results, and one of them is mine! I was so shocked, LOL.02br
00So, could someone give me some tips? I'm afraid grammar books don't explain this stuff very well. Thanks. 050010id1
  

Top answer

02br 00Well, at least I can give you my feeling of naturalness:02br 02br 01i 02br 00Don't worry. 02b 02br 00I'm not tired yet. 02b 02br 00I want to stay some more.

— Mister Micawber

  • 02br 00Well, at least I can give you my feeling of naturalness:02br 02br 01i 02br 00Don't worry.
  • 02b 02br 00I'm not tired yet.
  • 02b 02br 00I want to stay some more.
  • 02i 02br 00.
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7 Answers
0
0 .02br
00Well, at least I can give you my feeling of naturalness:02br
02br
01i02br
00Don't worry. I haven't 01b00been waiting long.02b02br
00I'm not tired yet. I haven't 01b00been writing long.02b02br
00I want to stay some more. I haven't been 01b00here long.02b02br
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0 Thanks MM. Looks like my dictionaries are a little bit misleading and confusing. I'd better try to forget 01i00for long02i00, at least for now. 050010id5
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Kooyeen12cite10If I try to search for "I haven't waited for long" on Google, I only get two results, and one of them is mine! I was so shocked, LOL.12blockquote
10I'm not. I'd say this has to do with verb tense, and not just with the word 'for', however. The present perfect progressive adds a sense of duratio
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0 Hi Amy,02br
00thanks, I see. But I think I'd better use "long" and leave "for" alone, at least for now, or I'll end up using weird sentences as I've been doing, as always.01blockquote
01cite10Yankee12cite10Try googling "didn't wait for long"12blockquote
10Hmm...02br
00"didn't wait for long" ---> 7 pages
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0Hi Kooyeen02br
00My point was that I think it more likely that you'll hear the 'for' used with the simple past tense, but also that the use of 'for' isn't actually necessary. I only suggested googling since that is 01u00exactly02u00what you had already done. 050010id5
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1blockquote
01cite10Yankee12cite10I only suggested googling since that is 11u10exactly12u10 what you had already done.12blockquote
10Well, I always use Google, maybe too much, so you don't have to worry about that, lol. 05002br
00Thanks! 010id4
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0 01h1

00my name is satesh kumar reddy am studing biochemistry am spoken english coures is studing well02h1

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