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Mnrz57 Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Meaning of 'how long before'

This sentence is confusing for me, I don't understand the meaning of 'how long before' Can you please shed some light on it:

Q - So how long before you shipped him off to the folks' home?
A - Only three weeks

To me it means how long before now "you shipped him off" but in the context of the conversation it means how long after he came to your house "you shipped him off"....

I'm confused, can you help me please?

Thanks
  

Top answer

The full sentence might read something like How long did he stay with you before you shipped him off to the folks' home? The sequence of events is as follows: he first came to your house and then, after spending some time with you, he left . It's obvious to me that "how long before" can refer only to the period of time between his arrival at your house/place and his leaving.

— Ivanhr

  • The full sentence might read something like How long did he stay with you before you shipped him off to the folks' home?
  • The sequence of events is as follows: he first came to your house and then, after spending some time with you, he left .
  • It's obvious to me that "how long before" can refer only to the period of time between his arrival at your house/place and his leaving.
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2 Answers
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The full sentence might read something like

How long did he stay with you before you shipped him off to the folks' home?

The sequence of events is as follows: he first came to your house and then, after spending some time with you, he left.

It's obvious to me that "how long before" can refer only to the period of time between his arrival at your house/plac
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"How long before ..." just means "How much time elapsed until ...". It doesn't imply any particular starting time (time that the elapsed time was measured FROM). In this case, the only major event that happened was when he came to the house, so that's when the time was measured from. You have to infer that from context.
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