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How Long Ago Q ?

This document provides guidance on answering questions about how long ago something occurred using different timeframes like minutes, hours, days, etc. It offers sample questions and responses using terms like "before", "ago", and specifying a timeframe. For questions asking "how long ago" something happened, the recommended responses are: 1) Use "before" followed by a timeframe (e.g. before Monday) or number (e.g. 30 minutes ago) depending on the answer. 2) Exceptions include using specific years, dates, times or relative terms like "a little while ago". 3) Fractions of a number are expressed as "and a half" like "2 and a half days ago

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Don LaBonte
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1K views2 pages

How Long Ago Q ?

This document provides guidance on answering questions about how long ago something occurred using different timeframes like minutes, hours, days, etc. It offers sample questions and responses using terms like "before", "ago", and specifying a timeframe. For questions asking "how long ago" something happened, the recommended responses are: 1) Use "before" followed by a timeframe (e.g. before Monday) or number (e.g. 30 minutes ago) depending on the answer. 2) Exceptions include using specific years, dates, times or relative terms like "a little while ago". 3) Fractions of a number are expressed as "and a half" like "2 and a half days ago

Uploaded by

Don LaBonte
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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77 LA BONTE'S TOP 100 ENGLISH CONVERSATION PATTERNS

HOW LONG AGO q ?


HOW LONG AGO q? a. BEFORE n
many minutes
many hours b. 1 n AGO
many days
many weeks c. FROM time TO time
many months TILL
many years UNTIL

d. BETWEEN time AND time

QUESTION

1. Instead of LONG, you can use MANY MINUTES, MANY HOURS, etc.

How long ago did you meet her?


How many minutes ago did you meet her?
How many hours ago did she get to sleep?
How many days ago did they wash it?
How many weeks ago did they write it?
How many months ago did you take a vacation?
How many years ago did he learn that?

ANSWER
2. "a"......Use BEFORE every time a NOUN comes out in the answer.
How long ago did she go back? She went back before the summer.
How long ago did you find out? I found out before supper.
3. PRIOR TO is the same as BEFORE. BEFORE is used much more.
She left prior to the meeting. They left prior to Monday.
4. "b".......Use AGO every time a NUMBER comes out in the answer.
How many minutes ago did he go? He went 30 minutes ago.
How many weeks ago did they pay you? They paid me 2 weeks ago.

EXCEPTIONS:
1. YEAR/MONTH a. before 1978
They returned before 1978.
b. in 1978 (if you know exact year/month)
She came in 1968.
2. CLOCK TIME c. before 2:30.
He went back before 4:45.
d. at 3:20 (if you know exact time)
He woke up at 3:20.
3. DATE / DAY e. before May 19th
before Tuesday
f. on November 10th (if you know exact date)
ON is optional...... I went November 10th.
4. A LITTLE WHILE He left a little while ago.
A WHILE They sent it a while ago.
A LONG TIME She called a long time ago.
5. 1/2 is a used a lot with numbers, like 2 1/2, 3 1/2 etc. Here is how you say that:
2 1/2......... 2 and a half He came 2 and a half days ago.
4 1/2......... 4 and a half They met her 4 and a half years ago.

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