Over 5 years

Question

0. He played the guitar over 5 years.1. Does "over" mean more than 5 years?  ex) 5years and 1 month, 6years, 7years and so on.2. "over" cannot mean 5 years exactly? or about 5 years?3. He played the guitar 5 years long&lt; = Does the sentence same as 0?

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Over 5 years means more than 5 years, and cannot mean exactly five years.

The fish is 5 inches long. "5 years long" is not idiomatic.

Well, you might possibly say "His jail sentence/term is five years long." "The President's term is four years long." "How long is the President's term?"

Moon7296 · Answer

Ah.. long is not idiomatic...

and you gave me some examples...

Then.. is it Okay to say ~years long if the question with long makes sense?

Q) How long did he play th guitar A) He played the guitar 5 years long. <=

Avangi · Answer

moon7296Then.. is it Okay to say ~years long if the question with long makes sense?
Q) How long did he play th guitar A) He played the guitar 5 years long.

I'm afraid it's not.
I'm sorry if I misled you to that conclusion. I understand how that could have happened.

I'd say it only works when describing a noun:
The school day is six hours long.
The president's term is four years long.
The prisoner's sentence is 20 years long.
One year is 365 days long.
The moon's (menstrual) cycle is 28 days long.
This test is/will be two hours long.
The movie is an hour and a half long.

Of course the "long" is not required. There are other ways to express it.

The test lasts [for] two hours.
The president's term is four years [in length].
The prisoner's sentence is 20 years.

Over 5 years

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