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I’m well aware of the difference between ‘since’ and ‘for’. However I have a question.

Imagine I say ‘I’ve been working on the essay since Saturday’ or ‘I’ve been working on the essay for two days’. (correct right?)

Why would it be incorrect to say ‘I’ve been working on my essay for all weekend’? I would personally omit ‘for’, but why though?

It seems like you can also omit the proposition in other, related cases, like 'I'll see you on Friday night.' Again, why can you do that?

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    Your question isn't really about since, is it?: it's about for and all, I think.
    – Old Brixtonian
    Commented Jun 5, 2019 at 21:53
  • Just a little note: outside Indian English, doubt is usually used as a verb. “I doubt it” = “I don’t think it is true”. You have a question.
    – Lawrence
    Commented Jun 5, 2019 at 22:06
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    Interesting question. If you replace “all weekend” with “the whole weekend”, you can use “for”.
    – Lawrence
    Commented Jun 5, 2019 at 22:08
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    'All' in your sentence could be substituted with 'during the entire' so 'for' is redundant and you are left with all weekend. 'For' can be substituted with 'during the course of' so a correct phrase would be for the whole weekend. But I'm not sure if 'all' is an adjective or determiner or predeterminer or all three and more besides.
    – S Conroy
    Commented Jun 5, 2019 at 22:42
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    Supporting S. Conroy's comment (above), is this, from the OED: A. adj. (determiner). 1. With singular noun. The whole amount, quantity, extent, or compass of; the whole of. ... e. With a noun denoting a period of time, or an event, activity, etc., which has a finite duration: the whole duration or period of. (a) Preceding the noun without determiner or other modifying word. Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. (2012), oed.com/view/Entry/5151 . (Note: I copy here only a portion of the relevant text to honor OED's copyright.)
    – Mark D Worthen PsyD
    Commented Jun 20, 2019 at 9:54

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As @Lawrence commented, "for the whole weekend" sounds correct, but "for all weekend" does not. This usage of "for" is grammatically "for ". "Two hours" and "the whole weekend" are durations, but I propose that "all weekend" is actually a specific time, not a duration. "All weekend" is a noun describing the location of a chunk of time: Sat + Sun (or Fri night + Sat + Sun). It's like "morning" or "afternoon", and would be similar to "6 o'clock".

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