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Park sang joon Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

That's really long time [to be writing] about one night

Celine and Jesse had met by chance in a train ten years ago, they had had a great time together for a day, and Jesse had wrote a novel based on the event.
And They met again now.
Celine: How long did it take you to write it?
Jesse: Three or four years. On and off.
Celine: Wow. That's really long time to be writing about one night.
Jesee: I know. Tell me about it.
<From the movie "Before Sunset">
I'd like to know here "writing" is a gerund and "to" indicates a degree as in the structure "too~to~"/ "enough~to~."
Thank you in advance for your help.
  

Top answer

e. the continuous form of "to write".

— GPY

  • e.
  • the continuous form of "to write".
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5 Answers
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"to be writing" is a present continuous (aka progressive) infinitive, i.e. the continuous form of "to write".
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Thank you, GPY, for another kind answer from you.Emotion: smile
The book has been written already, so I was wondering why "present continuous"
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park sang joonThank you, GPY, for another kind answer from you.The book has been written already, so I was wondering why "present continuous" is used.
"to have been writing" would also work. It is just author's choice.
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park sang joonJesse had wrote
Jesse had written
park sang joonAnd They met again now.
And they met again now.
park sang joonCeline: Wow. That's really long time
Celine: Wow. That's a really long time
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park sang joonI'd like to know here if "writing" is a gerund and "to" indicates a degree as in the structure "too~to~"/ "enough~to~."
No. 'writing' is not a gerund, and this has nothing to do with the 'too ... to ...' construction. It's the '(long) time to be [verb-ing]' construction (or idiom). It's used to
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