"a long time" or just "long time"

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#29624 Wed, 12 May 04 07:41 AM

I would always employ this phrase "a long time" in sentences so as to refer to "a period of time." For instance, I would say, "I've worked on this project for a long time," or "A long time ago, there once lived a witch on the hilltop." The other day I came across a sentece in which the phrase was used with the omission of the indefinite article "a." Substituting this shorter phrase for the original ones in the above two sentences, I find it awkward-sounding, but I don't know why. Is it grammatically acceptable? Or to say the least of it, is it frequently used by most intermediate learners or speakers of English?

Thanks!

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ryan smith

#29636 Wed, 12 May 04 08:48 AM

Keep the article "a".

I can't think of an example in modern English where "time" does not take an article or quantifier of some kind.

ryan smith

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maj

#29650 Wed, 12 May 04 09:09 AM

What about this?

-It's such a long time since we last saw each other.
-Long time no see.

maj

Joined on Mon, Mar 31 2003

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ryan smith

#29668 Wed, 12 May 04 10:11 AM

"It has been such a long time..."

I believe that "Long time no see" is a direct transliteration of the Mandarin Chinese "Hao jiou bu jien". Of course, this little oddity could just be a coincidence.

ryan smith