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Balakumar Posted 22 years ago
Grammar

Grammar

Could someone tell me what is the difference between "in a long time" and "for a long time"?
  

Top answer

, "in a long while", "in a dog's age", "in ages" are restricted to the idea of time in the past extending to the present moment. They are therefore restricted to use with the perfect tenses and used almost exclusively with the present perfect. Another feature of these idioms is that they occur almost exclusively with the superlative form (-est form or the form with "most") of adjectives or adverbs, and with the word "first".

— CalifJim

  • , "in a long while", "in a dog's age", "in ages" are restricted to the idea of time in the past extending to the present moment.
  • They are therefore restricted to use with the perfect tenses and used almost exclusively with the present perfect.
  • Another feature of these idioms is that they occur almost exclusively with the superlative form (-est form or the form with "most") of adjectives or adverbs, and with the word "first".
  • Note also that these expressions connote a continued absence of some kind, so the main verb of the sentence is negative if no superlative is present.
  • I haven't seen you / heard from you / read a book / played tennis / had a headache in a long | time / while |.
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1 Answers
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"in a long time" and a few similar expressions, e.g., "in a long while", "in a dog's age", "in ages" are restricted to the idea of time in the past extending to the present moment. They are therefore restricted to use with the perfect tenses and used almost exclusively with the present perfect. Another feature of these idioms is that they occur almost exclusively with the superlative form (-est
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