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Thank you for your patience over the last 15 weeks whilst we build this road

Can I replace the over by during or in and if I can, is it making any difference then?

The previous question in this regard didn't get a thorough explanation about over and during being used with a period of time. Some indicated when during are used with a period of time, it has connotation that thing happened intermittently, but in fact I can find many instances contradict this viewpoint, saying, wages have fallen by more than twenty percent during the past two months...and interesting thing is we have a analogous sentence in which over is used, the number of attacks on the capital had gone down over the past week...

My goal is to make the difference between them clearer rather than ambiguous results got in that post.

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You could replace over with during in that sentence, but to my ear not with in. Minor changes can have a significant impact on which prepositions are idiomatic. It is difficult to state a rule of thumb which would let you distinguish which situations license which prepositions.

Thanks for your patience over the last fifteen weeks while we built this road. OK

Thanks for your patience during the last fifteen weeks while we built this road. OK

Thanks for your patience in the last fifteen weeks while we built this road. marginal

We thank you for your patience especially in the final week of this fifteen week effort, when traffic was reduced to a crawl. OK

Which prepositions are idiomatic could change when three weeks is replaced with some activity that takes time, and patience is changed to something else. For example:

Thanks for your patience during these renovations. OK

Thanks for your patience over these renovations. No

Thanks for your patience over the course of these renovations. Yes

Thanks for your patience in these renovations. No

Thanks for your patience in the midst of these renovations. Yes

Thanks for your support in this campaign. Yes

Thanks for your support over this campaign. marginal

Thanks for your support over the length of this campaign.Yes

Thanks for your support during this campaign. Yes

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  • Thanks. Is there any particular situation or context in which we can only use during with like the past 2 years? – Young Aug 22 '18 at 14:43

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