period of time | Grammaring

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The future continuous is used to describe actions which will continue over a period of time in the future. This period can be expressed with a time expression or a clause with a verb in the present continuous tense. In this case, the two actions will be happening simultaneously:

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Future perfect with FOR

The preposition for is used with the future perfect tense to express that something will start before a point in time in the future (or has already started) and that it will still be true at that point:

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IT'S (BEEN) + DAYS / WEEKS / MONTHS / etc. + SINCE

The structure it's (been) + days / weeks / months / etc. + since is used to emphasise the length of time that has passed since a past event:

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Past continuous for actions happening over a period of time in the past

The past continuous is used to describe actions which continued over a period of time in the past. This period can be expressed with a time expression or a clause with a verb in the past continuous tense. In this case the two actions were happening simultaneously:

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Past perfect with FOR

The preposition for is used with the past perfect tense to express that something started before a point in time in the past and was still true at that point:

When they got married, they had already been together for three years.

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Past simple for actions happening over a period of time in the past

The past simple is used for actions that took place over a complete period of time in the past. This period is expressed with a time expression; however, the exact time may or may not be mentioned:

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Present perfect with FOR and SINCE

The question words how long? and since when?, and the prepositions for and since are used with the present perfect tense to express that something started in the past and is still true.