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- Does the "long" describe about the dulation of time or the distance of location?
Does the "long" describe about the dulation of time or the distance of location?
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From a suspense story "THE CHASE" by Sidney Sheldon
Masao is trying to become an employee of a company.
(Quote; You do not need to correct Sheldon's work.)
"Under Experience, Masao gave the names of half a dozen fictitious companies and made up addresses in Chicago, Detroit and Denver. It would take weeks to check out all the information ,and by then he would be long gone. "
(Experience is originally written in italics.)
The "long" disturbs me again.
In the last sentence of the quote, which is the alternative expression of the original meaning?
and by then he would be gone to the long distance.
or
and by then he would be gone a long time ago.
or
Both time and location?
Thank you
Desperate Beagle
Masao is trying to become an employee of a company.
(Quote; You do not need to correct Sheldon's work.)
"Under Experience, Masao gave the names of half a dozen fictitious companies and made up addresses in Chicago, Detroit and Denver. It would take weeks to check out all the information ,and by then he would be long gone. "
(Experience is originally written in italics.)
The "long" disturbs me again.
In the last sentence of the quote, which is the alternative expression of the original meaning?
and by then he would be gone to the long distance.
or
and by then he would be gone a long time ago.
or
Both time and location?
Thank you
Desperate Beagle
Does the "long" describe about the duration of time or the distance of location?
and by then he would be gone a long time ago. [You are so close. and by then he would have gone (a long time ago).]
This might be confusing, but to me they are kind of the same. I guess what they are saying is simply that they won't be able to find Masao.
As one of Japanese people who often make mistakes according to "articles", I thought it for a while and I used it intentionally.
I didn't want to know the general usage of the adjective "long".
I wanted to know the special usage with the context.
So I thought I should use "the" before "long".
Why I was wrong?
Thank you.
So you could say 'Does "the" long mentioned in the following script describe ...'.
In this case you are bringing attention to a specific use of the word 'long'.
If you don't use 'the', then the question is more general, like what is meaning of 'long' in this usage.
Hope that helps.
The "long" disturbs me again.(Again? When did it disturb you before?)
In the last sentence of the quote, which what is the an alternative expression of the original meaning?
and by then he would be gone (to a place a long distance from here)
and by then he would have been be gone a long time ago.
It's mostly a phrase, though. "Long gone" is a pretty casual phrase that means the would be no where near. It's usually used when someone is fleeing someone/something like punishment. In this case, he would be caught if they found out he made up all his information, so he'd have fled by the time they could check everything out.
Does that make sense? Let me know if you have further questions.
http://lang-8.com/327490/journals/1199007/it-was-long-past-his-dinner-time
I appreciate your help, though I feel sorry because I can not do give-and-take with you. I can't teach you Korean...
Anyway, thanks and have a nice day!
You're welcome. :) Don't worry about not being able to trade. ^_^
Does (the word) "long" in the passage below mean a long time or a long distance?
The word "long" is troubling me again. [I'm willing to take your word for the fact that it has troubled you before. :-) ]
In the last sentence of the passage below, which meaning of "long" is intended?
and by then he would be a long distance away.
and by then he would be gone a long time ago.
When you quote something, it is a bit different from using a word which refers to an object. Remember that saying "the X" has to specify a unique thing X known to the reader/listener. What you really meant in this case was 'the word "long" in the sentence "It would take weeks to check out all the information, and by then he would be long gone."' This is indeed a specification of a unique occurrence of a word. You didn't put enough into your title or the sentence 'The "long" disturbs me again' to make it clear that this was what you meant, however. By itself, 'the "long"' has no meaning, although 'the word "long"' does-- it specifies a unique word in the English language. This is different from what you meant, however-- you meant the occurrence or usage of that word in a specific sentence.
Though, roughly speaking, I think I understand more than half of what you said.
Thank you.
I should not use "the" at the title of my diary, because Lang-8 members don't know about the "the long" yet, because they haven't read my diary.
Please forgive my having written a long, difficult to understand explanation in English.
When I hear "long gone", seems like someone is supposed to have been dead for awhile. I asked my Dad about one of his old friends and he said he's "long gone" since he's been dead for a pretty long period of time.
You somehow just reminded me of something related 'the long'.
I will make my next diary from now.
Your comment exactly summarize other members' comment.