Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[learner1]

Hello,

I wonder if 'from then on' and 'since then' have the same meaning and interchangeable? e.g.

"They had a fight each other last week and didn't talk to each other from then on."

Could I use 'since then' instead of 'from then on' as in

"They had a fight each other last week and have not talked to each other sice then."?

Another question:
Should we use the simple past tense or the present perfect tense when using 'from then on'? I found out the examples from my dictionary use the simple past tense.

Thank you very much.

[cgage2]

"from then on" tends to express permanence
"Since then" means just since that time

"They had a fight with each other last week and didn't talk to each other from then on."
They had a fight last week and haven't spoken to each other since then.
They had a fight last week and did not speak with each other from then on.

[learner1]

Hello cgage2,

Thank you very much for your reply. According to your answer, the two expressions don't have the same meaning. Thus they can't be replaced with each other.

Thanks to your help.