自從…以來grammar point · tier 2 · 自從…以來 ever since X (a past start running up to now)
Fixes a past starting point and runs the whole stretch from it up to the present: ever since X, the state has held.
字源 FORM what the parts do
自從 opens the bracket: 自 is the nose borrowed for 'self, from', the point reckoned from; 從 is the path walked out of a place. Together they set where the stretch departs. 以來 shuts it: 以 is grammar's quiet joiner; 來 is wheat borrowed for 'come'. Together they pull the run forward, up to now. The past start sits after 自從; everything from then until the present sits inside, sealed by 以來.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A peg driven into the ground back there, and a thread running off it taut to the hand holding it now.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
自從 [past start point]，[clause holding up to now] 以來
觸 · Trigger
You have a past event to fix as the start, and a state that has held unbroken from it right up to now.
序 · The move
1Put the past start point after 自從 (an event or a time already begun).Is this a point already in the past, the origin the run departs from?
2Seal the starting clause with 以來 to pull the run forward to the present.Does 以來 close the bracket, marking the far end as now?
3State the state that has held across the whole stretch, often with 一直 / 都.Has this held unbroken from the start up to now, not just at one moment?
例 · Examples
1自從ever since (from the past start)開始begin學習learn / study網球tennis以來up to now (seals the run to the present)，他的表現performance一直都all along / consistently很出色excellent / outstanding。
Ever since he started learning tennis, his performance has been consistently excellent.
界 · Boundary
從…起
從…起 fixes an origin and runs forward open-ended, the far end unnamed and possibly future. 自從…以來 seals the far end at the present: the start is past, the run reaches now.
從…到…
從…到… names both ends as explicit points and reads the bounded stretch between. 自從…以來 fixes only the past start overtly; the far end is fixed too but implicit, always now.
自從 alone sets the past start and can leave the run's end loose. 以來 closes it explicitly: the stretch runs up to the present, and the state has held across all of it.
✗ 自從明天以來 → ✓ 自從昨天以來 (自從 takes a past start, not a future point)
✗ 自從他來，我很忙 → ✓ 自從他來以來，我一直很忙 (以來 seals the run to now and pairs with a state that has held across it)
✗ 他學網球以來表現很好 → ✓ 自從他學網球以來，表現一直很好 (the bracket needs 自從 to open it, not 以來 alone)
English 'ever since' carries start and 'up-to-now' in one phrase, so learners stop after 自從 and drop 以來, losing the mark that seals the run at the present.