student asking question

Does it mean same if I say "I'm gonna be gone about a week" instead of "I'm gonna be gone for a week"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

If you say "I'm gonna be gone about a week", this is different than "I'm gonna be gone for a week", because "for" gives a specific duration of time, meaning that it is going to be exactly one week that he is gone. In this case, however, he actually says "I'm gonna be gone for like a week", which has the same meaning as "about", since "like" in this case is an approximation. So "for like" means that it is going to be about a week that he is gone.

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