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Kooyeen Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

I hate "a while"

0 Hi,02br
00I basically hate the expression "a while", it drives me crazy. What does it mean? Is it a short or a long period of time? Examples from some dictionaries:02br
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01b00It takes a while to recover from the operation.02b00 (Does that mean I'll recover soon? Or that it's going to take more than expected and I won't recover as soon as I thought? Or that it'll take a fairly long time?)02br
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01b00They chatted for a while. 02b00(For a fairly long time? Or for a (fairly) short time?)02br
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01b00I haven't seen him for a while.02b00 (This usually means "for a fairly long time", but I believe that in certain contexts it could also mean "for a short time")02br
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01b00See you in a while.02b00 (This usually means "in a short time", but I believe in certain contexts it could mean "in a fairly long time")02br
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00Thank you in advance. 05002br
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00 010id1
  

Top answer

0 Sorry you are troubled by such a useful expression. It is best described as a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition. 02b 00 (01font 00 it's going to take more time than expected and I won't recover as soon as I thought02font 00 ) 02br 02br 01b 00They chatted for a while.

— Feebs11

  • 0 Sorry you are troubled by such a useful expression.
  • It is best described as a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition.
  • 02b 00 (01font 00 it's going to take more time than expected and I won't recover as soon as I thought02font 00 ) 02br 02br 01b 00They chatted for a while.
  • 02b 00 ( "01font 00for a fairly long time"02font 00, but I believe that in certain contexts it could also mean "for a short time"- 01font 00in the context of, say, an office : "Have you seen George around?
  • 02b 00 ( "01font 00in a short time02font 00" 01font 00[relatively, in that it may be hours, days or weeks depending on the fuller context of the comment02font 00)0-
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4 Answers
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0 Sorry you are troubled by such a useful expression. It is best described as a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition. What is evident is the importance of context, which will tell you what kind of "while" is being used.02br
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01b00It takes a while to recover from the operation.02b00 (01font
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0 01b01font00Indeed, an expression that can have two meanings that are seemingly opposites can be exasperating. Feebs has given good advice about "context", and it seems you have a pretty good handle on this one, yourself.02font02b00 0-
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0I see. I don't hate "a while" anymore then... I guess now I hate contexts, though! 05002br
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00Seriously, I perfectly understand. I just wanted some good opinions, I felt pretty insecure about that. Sometimes dictionaries don't help us learners much, definitions are often quite confusing, actually. Dictionaries never have examples in context...02br
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0 You are quite lucky though, because being italian you have very similar kind of problem in very similar contests, so the most of the times it's not a real problem (think at the difference between "ci vuole un po' per rimettersi dall'operazione" (quite a long time) and "ci vediamo tra un po'" (not in a long time)). However, the most of the time is just a matter of common sense, isn't it?0-
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