during

This preposition focuses on the timeframe of an event, acting as a temporal marker. It is used to indicate that something happens within the boundaries of a specific period, whether it lasts for the entire duration or occurs as a single point in time. It differs from "while," which is a conjunction and must be followed by a clause containing a subject and a verb.

Confusion often arises between "during" and "for." While "during" identifies when an event happened (the period), "for" describes the length of time (the duration). For example, one says "during the summer" to specify the time of year, but "for three months" to specify the total amount of time elapsed.