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Everywhere people have provided explanation for "since" vs "for" but what is the difference between since and from?

Another example:

It has been raining from/since morning.

I know 'since' is right but why is 'from' wrong?

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  • in my opinion, from is more about geographic positions, not about time (but i'm not native english)
    – Random
    Commented May 21, 2015 at 14:56
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    I think the reason is simply that from has far more different meanings, so unless the context makes the specific figurative sense screamingly obvious, we're idiomatically programmed to avoid it. But it's fine in It's been raining continuously from last night right up until half-an-hour ago (where additional text supplies the extra context). Also in We've been friends from childhood, where no additional text is required.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented May 21, 2015 at 15:12

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Since and From are used differently. Since means from the reference point provided until now.

He borrowed my lawnmower and I have not seen him since.

This means that whenever the lawnmower was taken until the moment the sentence was written (the present moment), the author has not seen the person who took the lawnmower. It can also be written-

I have not seen him since he borrowed my lawnmower.

From establishes a time frame that does not need to be tied to the present moment. You would use it as follows.

I did not see him from June 14 until August 5.

The from establishes a start point and an end point for the time frame. These start and end points are often dates but they can be events too. You can even mix events and dates.

I did not see him from the time he borrowed my lawnmower until August the next summer.

As a few other posters have noted, from can be used to indicate a time frame extending to the present, if the sentence's tense implies that. We've been friends from childhood, can be understood because the tense implies we are still friends. This allows the sentence to be understood as, We've been friends from childhood until now. I would suggest, however, that the sentence is better written, We've been friends since childhood.

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Actually 'since' and 'from' are kind of similar though they have a difference in meaning, along with a distinct taste separating them. Sometimes a language is not about why this and why not that, it's about which one sounds better in that particular case.

But in this case, they also have a difference in meaning. 'Since' is used whenever the case has started and is still in an intermediate period. So it's the time between two particular incidents or times. However, 'from' is used for strict identification of time or place. It doesn't give you the intermediate sense or meaning of 'since'.

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As you agree that 'since' is right here, I won't touch that part.

As Fumblefingers points out, "from" can be used in this kind of context, but to keep it simpler, we don't generally use it.

How can we use it? Because "from" also talks about some point of time, we often say, "he has been behaving like this from day one".

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