The time and energy the respondent needs to exert to complete a survey is called the ______.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single person a year into the pandemic must be in want of a partner ... and that a couple one year in must be in want of, well, a little more alone time.

In some cases, the pandemic has fast-tracked relationships, and couples who have known each other for only a short time find themselves cohabitating or even heading down the aisle. In other cases, couples break up, and divorce rates are rising in some places. What this all reminds us is that relationships, too, relationships, too, must live or die by the pandemic.

If you’re cohabitating, you could be in a tough spot. If you’re not, while your situation could not be more different, you may similarly find yourself with difficult decisions to make: you’ve probably had to figure out ways to see each other — or not — that feel safe and nurturing for both of you, as well as those in your inner-circles.

Or as Eric Spiegelman, a podcasting executive in Los Angeles, tweeted in April, “My wife and I play this fun game during quarantine, it’s called ‘Why Are You Doing It That Way?’ and there are no winners." (It got over 400,000 likes and some 47,000 retweets. Apparently, a lot of us have been playing that game.)

"The traditional marriage vows are 'for better or for worse,'" said Jean Fitzpatrick, a relationship therapist in Manhattan. “This is for worse. And so, how do we navigate a time like this? Our relationships will either grow as a result, or they will be harmed."

Long before the pandemic, one married couple tied themselves together with a 15-foot string for a whole day and wrote about their experience for Slate. “We don’t have any stories to tell each other about our day because we lived the same day,” David Plotz, the husband in the article, wrote. “We don’t have questions for each other because we know the answers. We can’t lie and exaggerate and twist the day’s happenings to gain sympathy — the usual evening activity for most married couples, I suspect — because the other will call foul.” Sound familiar?

If it's too late and your partner is already out the door or you've been single throughout the pandemic and are now looking for a new match, consider skipping down to the question "How do I date during this time?" For others, whether you're too far apart or too close together right now, you may be missing your partner. Vanessa Marin, a relationship and sex therapist, has written several columns about maintaining your relationship. We've compiled some of her advice (and advice from others) to help your relationship survive the pandemic:

1. Take care of yourself first. (And, no, that's not a selfish No. 1.) Being a better you will make you happier, as well as your significant other, because, newsflash: taking care of you is not the sole job of your partner. Right now, it's more important than ever to "feel your feelings," writes Ms. Marin, adding that validating your emotions will help you move on more quickly. To get in touch with yourself, try meditating, journaling free form for five or 10 minutes a day and exercizing. Also, be sure to reach out to others beyond your partner. Remember those friends you used to get together with before the pandemic squeezed the normality out of life? Reach out to friends and family to see how they're doing and share what's going on in your own life, too. (Pro tip: If you're getting almost all of your social and emotional support from one person, you're not doing it right. It's not fair to expect or possible to deliver on taking care of each other's every need. Bottom line: It's just not healthy and you're building a foundation for certain disappointment.)

2. If you live with others, consider the safety of everyone in your households and openly communicate with them to determine individual comfort levels before bringing your significant other back to that shared space. Then be sure to check-in frequently: With passing time and new strains of the virus cropping up, those comfort levels may be changing, and what people were good with in the summer could be very different from what they're OK with now.

3. Make (and stick to) a plan. Discuss what each of you have to tackle (both longterm and over the course of the next week or so). Check in at an appointed time each week to recallibrate and nightly to tweak the day ahead. Right now, the pandemic has put only added pressure to a persistent disparity in the distribution of parental labor, with women carrying the brunt of added child care responsibilies (as well as disproportionate job loss) even beyond their majority share before the pandemic. That unequal division of parenting and household responsibilities, along with financial problems, and just too much arguing are among the top reasons couples separate or file for divorce, studies show. So be sure to divide the responsibilities, and if you're the kind of couple that gets joy (or at least a bit of peace) from a shared calendar, then go for it.

4. Yep, you should still be checking in on each other. Whether you're living in different timezones or literally sitting next to your partner all day, every day, be sure to remember: “It’s not about grand gestures, it’s about doing small things often," says Logan Ury, the director of relationship science at the dating app Hinge. (And that goes for asking about the little things, too.) Some of us are experiencing “ambiguous loss,” said Sinead Smyth, a licensed marriage and family therapist, adding that some of us may not want to complain to our partners about these frustrations, but if you don’t honestly share these feelings, you may start to lean away from each other, when you should be leaning closer. (At least metaphorically speaking.)

It might seem simple or even over-redundant, but you should still be asking the questions you (hopefully) were asking pre-pandemic: "How was your day?" "How are you feeling?" (Or, "I notice you seem [insert emotion here], what's going on?") "What can I do to better support you through this?" And while you're at it, say "thank you" and be specific: "I really appreciate when you do [insert that great thing they do]," or "thank you for seeing I was losing it and stepping in with [insert that great save they made]." The more you start spelling out what you're grateful for, the more you will find things to be grateful for. As for your partner: it never hurts to hear you're appreciated, and they might just return the favor. In the end, this time together could actually make you closer. (Take a look at the next question, too, for pointers about how to start a good conversation with your partner.)

5. Mix some excitement into the relationship, suggests Jancee Dunn, a frequent NYT Parenting contributor and the author of “How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids." According to one experiment just 90 minutes of novel experience a week for a month can make for a more satisfactory relationship for months to come. Consider planning a future trip together (just maybe don't buy the tickets yet). Or start a new at-home hobby together (you don't even have to be good at it for it to still be fun and different). Pasta making, anyone?

6. Create boundaries: they're a sign of love, too. How can you give each other space — when we all need a little more of that from the people we're now doing everything with? If you were both usually apart and at work before the pandemic, you probably didn’t talk for 14 waking hours straight. (At least your boss hopes you didn't talk for 14 hours straight.) So now if you're sudden-cubicle buddies, build in that time apart, so that seeing each other is a nice break at the end of the day.

If you're both working from home, create separate work spaces. (If you can, close the door.) And to keep those dividers up, even consider texting during the work day as opposed to screaming into the other room. That way you can each respond when you have a moment. It's also nice to have peaceful alone time, and you can find creative ways to make that a part of your everyday routine. Maybe you devy up who gets up first to fix the coffee or wake the kids, while the other luxuriates in bed a little longer. (Then switch the next day.)

7. Remember, this isn't actually the pandemic of 1918: We live in a technological world, so take advantage. Even if you're tired of video-chats, if you're separated from your partner, seeing each other's faces is an important way to stay connected. On Zoom you can even use the function to hide your own face making it seem more like an in-person conversation. (Plus, you shouldn't be staring at yourself anyway.)

To bind your lives together, what's known as "interdependence", try video-chating while cooking from the same recipe (in two separate kitchens), then get dressed up for a candle-lit dinner via laptop, or take your FaceTime chat outside and go for a walk together or cozy up on the sofa and pick a TV show to watch at the same time: one-two-three-play. (Texting and sending audio message reactions throughout can be fun, too.)

Evidence suggests that your long-distanced relationship can work just as well as those close together. So if you're in a newly long-distanced relationship, consider some hilarious (and actually helpful) advice from Holly Burns, a writer in the San Francisco Bay area and the survivor of a long-distance relationship in the era of AOL Instant Messenger. (The highlights include a few mind-twisters: "talk about when you’re going to talk," "be there even when you can’t be there," and "get awkward early," among others.) And Ms. Marin, the sex therapist, has a few more suggestions about how to keep your sex life alive (including the use of remote sex toys, which your partner can control from afar).

8. But no matter what, prioritize quality time — it's more important than the quantity of it. Whether you're living together or rarely ever see each other these days, be intentional with the time you do have in-person, as well as virtually. Talk about the things you miss doing together and find ways to salvage old routines while creating new ones. Maybe that's rejuvenating your long-lost date nights, maybe that's starting them up for the first time. Consider among the options (side-by-side or via face-cam): cooking an elaborate meal or reading a book together — agreeing to a number of chapters a night or even reading aloud together. And in case you've forgotten how: Get dressed up for an evening in. Give your partner a massage. Pop open a nice bottle of champagne — OK, we'll leave the rest of the night up to you.

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