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Liveinjapan Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Light years

"I was shocked at the light years we are away from the way people think about embryonic stem cells in the States," she said. "It's very mixed up with the abortion issue. It's put into the same category."

What does 'the light years' mean? 

Could it be replaced with 'how long'?

Thanks.

  

Top answer

Liveinjapan What does 'the light years' mean? It's a measure of distance incomprehensible to the average person. It's used to measure the distance to stars.

— Avangi

  • Liveinjapan What does 'the light years' mean?
  • It's a measure of distance incomprehensible to the average person.
  • It's used to measure the distance to stars.
  • The expression is used here to indicate the greatness of the difference between two opinions.
  • It takes light eight minutes to reach us from the sun.
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3 Answers
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Liveinjapan What does 'the light years' mean? It's a measure of distance incomprehensible to the average person. It's used to measure the distance to stars.

The expression is used here to indicate the greatness of the difference between two opinions.

It takes light eight minutes to reach us from the sun. (93 million miles) You could say the sun is ei
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A light year is the distance that light travels in a year. It's a very, very long way, obviously. You can replace it with "how very far." It's a metaphorical distance, of course.
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Understand! (long -> far)
Thanks, Avangi and Barb.
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