Please help me sort this out:
A.I’ve warmed up for more than an hour.
B.I’ve warmed up more than an hour.
I would always use “for” here. Is is okay to drop it?
I’m wondering if B. is American English and so new to me?
All my grammar book says is that "We can sometimes drop “for” ". And that it is omitted in front of “all”.
Fat lot of use :fume:
Cheers
L 
I am not very imaginative generally but I can’t imagine any situation where you would say A or B.
If the warming up began in the past and continued to the moment of speaking you would say “I’ve been warming up for more than an hour already.”
If you were describing a past event you might say something like “In the past I have warmed up for more than an hour before a game.”
In the new world for is pronounced fr so it isn’t a lot of trouble to add it.
I’d say both A. and B. are correct, just depends how the question was asked.
O.K. I can imagine answering with A If somone asked “How long do you usually warm up?” But then you would probably say “I’ve warmed up for more than an hour before.” I still can’t imagine ever saying A. Anywho…
A would also work if someone was saying something like “I’ve warmed up for more than an hour, time to move on to some weights” or something. The second sounds either wrong or American. It sounds to me like they’re saying they’ve physically warmed up more than an hour, as in put more than an hour in an oven and warmed it up.
[quote=“bob”]
“I’ve warmed up for more than an hour before.” I still can’t imagine ever saying A. Anywho…[/quote]
You’ve hit the nail on the head “I’ve warmed up (for) an hour before they arrive.” Is the complete sentence; according to my notes I made yesterday.
So, can we drop the “for”? Sorry, I’m a dumbass. Sometimes you just want to say to students “Because that’s the way I speak!” But, it is not really a valid answer is it?
Thanks,
Limeydumbnutz
Sorry Limey but I can’t imagine that one either.
Maybe someone would say “I’ve usually warmed up for more than an hour before they arrive.” (Present Perfect)
Or, “I will have warmed up for more than an hour before they arrive.” (Future Perfect)
Or, “I had warmed up for more than an hour before they arrived.” (Past Perfect)
The problem I have with “I’ve warmed up for over an hour before they arrive,” is that I don’t know when the action happens. Adding usually, will, or changing have to had clarifies that.
Anyway what is really bugging them is the use of two prepositions in a row right? “For over” must seem pretty wierd to them because they understand that the preposition is there to clarify the relationship between “warm up” and “an hour.” Imagine if someone said “I’ve warmed up an hour.” You may respond with “Really, can I have a piece?” An hour is not the object of the phrasal verb warm up so you need a preposition to create an adverb phrase out of “an hour.” What your students are wondering is why we use two prepositions in this case especially since it would be OK to say “I’ve been warming up for an hour.” The answer is that “over” is not a preposition in this case. It is an adjective modifying hour. It is similar to saying “I have been warming up for TWO hours.”
Anyway…I don’t know what kind of a class you are teaching but if it is a conversation class “That’s just the way WE say it,” is a perfect answer. Unless of course they want to have a conversation about grammar. What I try to do is insert a grammatical explanation into the conversation quickly if I think I can do it correctly, and if I think they could understand what I said. They tape record everything though so they don’t always have to understand it the first time they hear it!
Don’t worry too much Limey. Grammar isn’t easy and everybody makes mistakes.
It seems to me that ommitting the ‘for’ is something that may be acceptable in spoken English, but not written.
“Cook it an hour, then take it out of the oven”
“We travelled two days downt he coast, then…”
A bit like leaving out ‘on’
“I’ll do it Thursday”
Brian
Go with what bu lai en said as a general principle regarding the difference between the written and spoken languages.
My post was quite a good explanation but of a DIFFERENT PROBLEM. I blame Sunday.
I think though that they are probably framing this thing as a preposition problem. Tell them that “warm up” is a phrasal verb, so "for is needed to be grammatically correct.
And “I’ve warmed up more than an hour,” still sounds awky.
:bravo: Cheers bob and Bu Lai En.
bob, it was the two prepositions in a row that caused the confusion. Now I understand it better too!
You’re right about the conversation class, sometimes I’m just stumped when it comes to questions such as this! But thankfully, my student understands that sometimes even we need help.
Bu Lai En. The leaving out of “on” irritates me so much. Even British newspapers are starting to omit it now; “Bush said Thursday” ???
Is there a grammatical reason for this. Or is it just laziness?
Cheers
L 
Are you ready bob?
A: How long do you usually warm up?
B: I’ve warmed up for more than an hour before.
Sorry bob, back to grade school my friend.
Person A is asking you the time you normally spend doing warm up exercises. You have responded off the wall with a remark about this one time previously when you warmed up for an hour or you have conveyed your ability to warm up for more than an hour. Neither interpretation really answers the question. Not that it matters but since your so pent up on being a fastidious twerp you ought at least have your brain in gear before engaging the clutch.
Feeling the dust clear from the workings now.
As for the original question I think it is either or.
However, it’s probably best to teach “for,” as it is definitely inferred in ‘B.’
You know fox I read a lot of your posts and you usually seem like an intelligent, reasonable person but when the subject is grammar you suddenly become incredibly abrasive. What is up with that?
As for your example, I think it may have been better if you had provided an example of a situation where the question was actually answered. For example you might have used as an answer to your question “I have warmed up for more than an hour before but usually I warm up for about twenty minutes.” See, wasn’t that reasonable?
I think that perhaps you and I are playing different games. In your game the winner is the one who hurls the greatest number of insults. In my game that’s the loser. The loser is also the one who is factually or logically incorrect or just not really able to read very well.
So far I have us scored at about bob 4 Fox 1 although I am prepared to grant a mercy point on account of your apparent psychological difficulties.
Lets call it 4 - 2 for bob then.
that is an americanism. an interesting thing is that it is only used when referring to the future or past, not the usual. I’ll do it/i did it thursday are commonly heard, i always do it thursday, no.
Erm? Bob’s what?
Don’t you mean “you’re”?
Thanks for the help though.
I would have said the answer to:
A: How long do you usually warm up?
B: I usually warm up for an hour.
I just don’t get:
“I’ve warmed up for an hour before,” having much relationship to the question.
Well Limey it goes back to another thread where I was just helping out a poster re. a grammar problem and bob took it upon himself to start policing my grammar. I just thought I’d repay the favor.
I’m abrasive with anybody who takes poorly aimed pot shots, especially if they’re at me, bob.
All the same I too like your posts, mostly because you don’t take yourself too seriously. In all the time I’ve posted on here, I don’t think I’ve ever bothered too much with other people’s grammar.
OK now we were having a perfectly silly fight and you had to go and ruin it by being nice about the whole thing.
Now you had to spoil it all by saying something stupid like I love you.
And the new score is bob 4 Fox 6.
:loco: slowdumbnutz Limey realizes he should keep his gob shut 
Limey -1 bob 4 Fox 6
I love ya’ll
I think I drop “for” when I’m in a hurry, or more likely, just lazy. But I also use it. It probably depends on blood sugar, brain chemistry, time of day, what I’m thinking about at a given moment, or maybe the varying effects of cosmic-ray bombardment on my brain.
As to the present perfect, “I’ve warmed up. . . ,” I think I might say that if someone advised me to warm up before doing exercises, e.g.:
bob. You know, you should warm up before you lift weights.
xp+10K. But I’ve warmed up for an hour. Besides, I have no intention of lifting those weights. They look very heavy. I’d rather just warm up and look as if I’m about to lift some weights.
I might also say, “But I’ve been warming up for an hour,” which is probably preferable in the view of most grammar folk, but again, I’m lazy, and you got all these cosmic rays, etc.
Really, I’d probably say, “But I just warmed up for an hour.” Then again, if I’d been warming up for an hour, I probably wouldn’t say anything. Too tired.