long
part of speech
adjective (long, longer, longest); adverb; verb (long, longs, longed — to wish)
meaning for a pupil
1) Long tells how much length something has from one end to the other: «14 metres long». tree →
2) Long means having a big length: «long hair», «a long river». tree →
3) Long means lasting a big amount of time: «a long film». tree →
4) To long for something is to want it very much. tree →
5) (casual) «So long» means goodbye; «long time no see» means it's been ages; «long story short» means I'll skip the details. tree →
6) (casual) «Long» can mean boring or a lot of effort (UK slang): «homework's long», «that's long, man». tree →
7) (rude) «Why the long face?» asks why you look sad; «take a long walk off a short pier» means go away. tree →
8) (formal) Exams say «in length», «of a length of», «the duration», «longitudinal», «elongated» and «prolonged». tree →
sense in the lessons
how many metres or centimetres from end to end; «How long» asks for a length or for a time; phrases: «how long», «metres long», «hours long», «a long time», «as long as» (if), «long ago», «before long» (soon), «all day long»; in casual talk «long story short», «so long», «ages» for a long time, «that's long» (boring); in rough talk «how long you gonna be, I'm not waiting all bloody day»; in the exam voice «a length of 14 metres», «the duration of the journey», «the longitudinal dimension»
examples
- The red ribbon is 14 metres long. How long is the rope now? tree →
- The film is 2 hours long. tree →
- How long is the pencil? tree →
- The Nile is a very long river. tree →
- How long did it take you to walk home? tree →
- You can play outside as long as you stay in the garden. tree →
- She longed for a puppy. tree →
- bus at 8:40, it's 8:25 now, how long? tree →
- Long story short, he ate 3 of the 5 pies. tree →
- Ugh, this homework's long, 20 sums! tree →
- A conduit of a length of 14 metres is reduced by 5 metres. State the residual length. tree →
- Why the long face? Did you lose the match? tree →
- Where have you been so long? tree →
note
«How long» asks for a length, or for a time. Trap: «how long did it take» is about time, not metres. Trap: «as long as» means «if», not a length. «long» as UK slang (boring, hard work) has no number meaning. «of a length of» in an exam gives a length. Opposite: short.
In the corpora
- Burnout means being worn down by too much work and stress for too long, until even small tasks feel huge.
- Many people are paid early in December, before Christmas, so January feels very long with the money already spent.
- Hot water costs energy to heat, so long showers cost money and leave less for the next person.
- Big building jobs often take longer and cost more than planned.
- A divorce can feel sad and also a relief, because a long, hard process is over.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «long» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.