Use of words

Question

There is an example in the book practical english usage.

They have been living in France for the last year.

But my teacher taught me that we use since before the last year or the last week or the last night.

On the website (link given below), Since is used before the last night.

https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/for-or-since

Please explain to me what we use before the last night or the last year, for or since?

I follow my teachers notes and this book. So now I am confused.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

The sentence, "They've been living in France for the last year.", is correct. If you substitute "since" for "for" in this sentence, it would make the sentence ungrammatical. The problem here is the word "the." The phrase, "...since the last year.", is not used in English.

However, the following is correct:

"They've been living in France since the last year of the 20th

However, the following is correct:

"They've been living in France since the last year of the 20th century (that is, since the year 1999)." (You can use "since" in a phrase such as: "...since the last year of the 20th century." But you cannot use it to end a sentence (with no words after it) as in: "...since the last year."

The following are correct uses of "since":

"I've had the flu since last week." (But not: "...since the last week.")

"I've had a hangover since last night." (But not: "...since the last night.")

"We've been going together since the last night in August (that is, the night of Aug. 31st)." (But not: "We've been going together since the last night.")

Use of words

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