since - from

88 mph? That’s nothing! Here at the Article it’s Time Travel Week. All our translating issues this week will be about time-related vocabulary and phrasing. You can get some idea about what's coming with the hastily-created 'time map' above, so without further ado let’s begin the fun by setting our watches to twelve o’clock... yesterday! (Click here for a bigger version of the picture, it’ll help with deciphering my handwriting ;)

Faulty Usage
1a We have served over 6,000 customers from 1997!         
2a We have been established on the market from 1984, and…       
3a Since 1999, a burglar alarm system has been functioning.
4a EXPO-PAK, the International Packaging Technology and Logistics Exhibition established since 1973, has recently…

Good Usage
1b We have served over 6,000 customers since 1997!
2b We have been established on the market since 1984, and…
3b A burglar alarm system has been functioning since 1999.
4b EXPO-PAK, the International Packaging Technology and Logistics Exhibition established in 1973, has recently…

OED Definition
Since (preposition, conjunction, adverb) in the intervening period between (the time mentioned) and the time under consideration (e.g. I bought a Skoda five years ago, and it’s worked perfectly ever since; Since I had my haircut last week, I’ve felt like a new man)

From (preposition) indicating the point in time at which a process, event or activity starts (e.g. The film runs from 10 to 11:30pm; Tickets go on sale from May the 5th)

What’s The Problem?
These two are sometimes mixed-up, causing different problems. The first is simply mixing up from with since and using the wrong one (1 and 2). This is a particular problem in company biographies on websites (‘About Us’ pages) or biographies of ‘important’ people, and is often followed by a year or a date.

Also, make sure since is going in the right place to begin with (3). The reason example 3 is faulty is that it is a fragment (that error most beloved of Word) – starting a sentence with Since X, yadda yadda..., one expects to read a whole, full sentence and not be brutally cut short less than ten words later. Fragments just don’t read well in English (we’ll be looking at Fragments and too-short sentences soon, as this is a very big problem). So make sure you either drop your since on at the end, or if you’re going to front-load it, make sure there’s enough coming afterwards to properly support it.

The other problem is using since with a start time/date and no specific end (4). This is not a terrible crime against humanity the way 1 – 3 are, but it’s still a fairly hideous, gibbering mutant that you’d want to not run into a decent, clean-living text. Your best bet here is to use a synonym, and the ideal candidate for the job is established in, and occasionally established since (to begin a sentence, same usage rules as just Since...).