- Is it okay or wrong if I put “for” between waiting and all,
so the sentence would be like —> I’ve been waiting for all day. - How about this? I’ve been waiting for all day long?
Thank you!
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I would say the “for” is kind of optional. In the UK (well, in my area at least) we tend not to say: "…I’ve been waiting for all day long? - but it wouldn’t exactly sound wrong, IMO.
Where we do tend to use “for” is if there is an article (i.e. “a” or the") in play. So you would generally say: "I’ve been waiting for a day / for a week / for the entire year…etc. However, especially in colloquial English, you could also say: “I’ve been waiting a day / a week / the entire year” - that wouldn’t be wrong either.
‘I’ve been waiting for all day’ definitely sounds wrong to me.
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“I’ve been waiting for all day” is wrong: 1. “for” is a preposition that in this sentence does not refer to anything. It’s meaningless. 2. This idiomatic expression should be “I’ve been waiting all day long.” You could, however, say “I have been waiting for you all day long.” In this case “for” is the preposition to the object “you.”
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I agree that “I’ve been waiting for all day” does not sound natural.
As a native speaker of American (U.S.) English I would say either “I’ve been waiting all day” or - to make the statement stronger and to add more emphasis on how long you’ve been waiting - “I’ve been waiting all day long.”
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Well, as I said, we tend not to say it that way. But it doesn’t sound 100% wrong/unnatural to me.
Therefore (for me) it is as follows:
“I’ve been waiting all day long” is the usual way of putting it.
“I’ve been waiting for all day long” is unusual but (in my opinion) not exactly an error.
Maybe it’s a regional UK thing?
“…“I’ve been waiting for all day” is wrong…”
I’ve thought about this, and I just can’t agree that it’s “wrong”. It is (as I said) a less usual way of putting it, but - to my ears - it wouldn’t jump out as erroneous usage.
“…“for” is a preposition that in this sentence does not refer to anything…”
It would refer to “all day long” as a single idea - as in “for the whole day”. But it is, in any case, a kind of category error to treat language as if it has to be logical. If someone in Texas asks “Hey, where’s the library at?” it isn’t “wrong” because the preposition “at” doesn’t govern a noun or pronoun. If that’s the way some native speakers use English, well, it must by definition be natural usage…
You would not use “for” unless you said, “I have been waiting for YOU/HIM/THIS/etc all day.”
or
“I have been waiting for the whole day.”
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Interesting thread. I could say a little more about this, but I’ve been working on Arabic for all afternoon long, and now I need a break 
- Wrong.
- Wrong.
They are unnatural, unused and just plain wrong. Please don’t listen to the people on here who seem to just ‘ok’ any attempt at the English language by a non-native speaker. It will just make you sound wrong to natives if you take on their advice.
Do keep asking questions though just be wary of the advice you take. These sentences are totally wrong and unnatural.
The original sentence is fine, just use that.
Nope. You just appear to have a poor grasp of the English language. It’s wrong. Totally wrong.
I’ve lived in Manchester, Sheffield, Gateshead, Newcastle, London, Plymouth and Essex. And English is English. You’re wrong.
Stop giving advice, would be my advice.
- I’ve been waiting all day.
- I’ve been waiting all day long.
Some examples using “for”:
I’ve been waiting for a day.
I’ve been waiting for a whole day.
I’ve been waiting for a long time.
I’ve been waiting for the day to turn into night.
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