Difference between ever since and as long as

[dynasty]

Could You Please Tell ME What`s The diffrense between eversince and as long as ?

thanks

[ستاره لارا]

Hi ,

try to understand from the examples I provided,

ever since:

If something has been the case ever since a particular time, it has been the case all the time from then until now.



He's been there ever since you left!...

Ever since we moved last year, I worry a lot about whether I can handle this new job...



As long as :

During the time that:
I'll stay as long as you need me.

Since:
As long as you've offered, I accept.

On the condition that:
I will cooperate as long as I am notified on time.

I hope you got it, if not, please do not hesitate to ask.

As you can see the question is not in fact the difference but the meaning which is widely different.

[pc boy]

that was a perfect answer!
good job dude.

[dynasty]

Thanks for your answer Setare.. U know yesterday i had a M.A University enterence exam And they gave us this question,,
...............human invented fire, they begun to influence nature.
1)when 2) as long as 3)from 4) ever since

and i checked as long as . did i chek correct ?

[Greight]

Consider sentence tenses in the examples and you'll find the correct answer

[ستاره لارا]

I hope you get the result but to that question your answer is incorrect. The correct one is, 4

Ever since human invented fire, they begun to influence nature.

in fact you can rewrite the above sentence like this:

Human began to influence nature from the time they discovered fire.

Another point:


We say something was discovered when it always existed in nature, then someone found it.
But if it did not previously exist before and someone made or created it we say it was discovered.


So what do you think ?

Was fire invented or discovered?

Yet another point !

Humans or human?

Ever since human invented fire, they begun to influence nature.

Take a closer look at the question again.

[pc boy]

I'm afraid to ask this but don't you think the question is talking about a period of time that the activity has been started?!
look at the begun!
I think it's trying to say the influence has started WHEN humanbeing discovered the fire.
what do you say?

[ستاره لارا]

You see the question you posted seems to have lots of problems, I did not want to talk about them. There are some possibilities, you either did not copy the question correctly or the question itself is wrong which the later one is not probable for you said it appeared in your MA exam.

That's why I asked you to take a closer look at the sentence again

Let's go back to the question once again then:

Ever since human invented fire, they began to influence nature.

This is about the time that human discovered the fire and from then on ( after he discovered the fire ) he in fact began to influence the nature.

It is clear enough, and are you sure you copied the question as it appeared in your exam?

It had some mistakes !

[Greight]

As stated correctly the answer is clear. Anyway let me try to focus on the meaning of "as long as".

As Merriam-Webster Dictionary shows, two definitions have been recorded for this entry;

Function: conjunction
Date: 15th century
1 : provided that
2 : inasmuch as, since

The first one obviously does not fit into our sentence. But for the second meaning let me ask you to look at my previous post in this thread. Please bear in mind the examples provided for every entry of a dictionary are not for fun. They show the real meaning of a word or phrase in context and as it is really being used, so look more into the examples instead of synonyms.

[rezafo]

I would like to contribute my own to this question.


I think to see the difference between “ever since” and “as long as” is not a tough job even from reading the surface meaning of both terms. You may consider “since” an equivalent for “ever since” then the perception will be easier.


To do that test which you mentioned, from the context and the understanding of the text, you will have much better a chance to hit the correct option. When you look into the delicate difference between the terms you will have to spend more time to analyze and process the correct answer. [Test taking strategy]


Alireza’s reminder of “discovering not inventing of fire” provoked me to do a little search over the matter. Thanks to the Wikipedia, I understand that we’d better say “to control the fire” , “when did human started to use or control fire?”


About asking again over “since” and “as long as”, I wonder why you ever feel quite Ok when “as long as” comes with Past Tense in this sentence.


As long as: “we use this when something will be possible or satisfactory only if something else happens or is done” , and, “Ever since” = “from the end of an event or time frame to the present” , finally, from the text given by you the best term which suits most will be “ever since”.


More to it, just replace “since” with “ever since” - which you will not distort the meaning – then you will click on option 4 complacently.