So I asked Peter how far did he go to propose his girlfriend Jessica, he said, “I bought
an expensive diamond ring. I took her to you know the Eiffel tower. I went down on my knees
and I proposed marriage to her." and I asked him, “So what did she say? What was her
reply?" And he said, "she said yes.' Well my next question is or rather was how long
had you been waiting for this day? And he said, “I had been waiting for this day for
almost a year and a half." Well friends this is what we are going to look at in today's
lesson, the difference between how far and how long.
First let's see how we use how far. We use how far when you want to ask about a particular
distance or when you want to talk about distance, okay. So if I ask you, how far is your office?
You are going to tell me your office is about say 7 kms from your home. So when I say how
far I always get the measurement of distance or may be 5 kms, a mile, okay. You will always
get such answers. So remember when you say or when you ask how far is something that
means you are asking the measurement of distance in terms of kilometers, in miles and whatever,
okay. So the answer is my office is about 7 kms away from my home.
The next example is how far is the cinema? Okay, so say we are going to the cinema by
car and I want to know the distance from office to the cinema, so I say how far, okay. And
then you say oh it is not that far, it's just about 2 kms. Alright, so again I'm asking
about the distance, okay. When you use how far... you always talk about distance. It
will always give you the reply in distance. The next question, how far will you drive
to reach the station? Now I know the station is really far, I don't know the exact distance.
So I ask a friend of mine, why are you taking the car, just take the bus is really far and
he says no... I'm going to take the car, I’m going to drive. My next question is how far
will you drive; I want to know the distance. I know it's far but I want to know the exact
distance. How far will you drive to reach the station and he says it's about 45 kms.
Okay, so I'm going to get the reply in terms of distance and measurement, yes?
So far we have looked at the 3 questions which talk about distance. Now let's see how, how
far is used a little differently. So if I ask how far would you go to convince Mary
to marry you? That means not the distance. He won't say I'll go ten kms to convince her.
It means to what extent? Okay I want to know the extent of your efforts that you going
to take to convince Mary to marry you, right? So in the beginning of the lesson that's what
I told you, I asked Peter, how far did you go to convince your girlfriend to marry you.
I wanted to know the extent of the efforts that he put to get her to marry him. So in
such a situation when someone says how far? They are certainly not talking about the distance.
They actually want to know the extent that you would go to, to do something, okay. So
if I ask one of my students how far are you going to go to get a first class or may be
top your English exams? How far are you going to go? How far, what would you do? What I
want to ask what would you do, what kind of efforts, to what extent are you going to go
to, to you know get or rather to top his English exams? And he tells me, I'm going to work
day in and day out. I'm going to read all my English lessons. I'm going to know my vocabulary
and my sentence construction. So he is going to tell me about all the efforts that he is
going to put in to ace his English examination. So certainly he is not going to talk about
the distance because i want to know the extent or the efforts that he is ready to put in
to ace his English exams. So remember we have two meanings to how far. One is when you talk
about distance, one place from the other, in terms of kms or miles. And the second one
is when you ask, how far would you go to get something or how far would you go to get a
new job. It actually means what is the extent or what is the kind of effort that you are
going to put. Okay friends so this is how we use how far. Remember it will only tell
you the distance or the extent or the effort of doing something. Now let's take a look
at how long. If I ask someone, I'm late for a meeting and I say, “I’m really sorry
how long have you been waiting?" Now the minute you say how long... it doesn't mean the length,
length okay. It means the amount of time taken for something. Okay, so how long have you
been waiting for me? And they'll say, "Oh we have been waiting for about 45 mins.”
45 mins, I'm sorry, I'm late. So how long have you been waiting? Will talk about time
okay the duration, the amount of time that you have been waiting for. So I cannot say
how far have you been waiting. I’ve been waiting like 5 kms, no. That's not the right
way to ask. So when you want to know the amount of time spent or the amount of time something
takes, please ask how long, right? The next one, how long is the movie? Okay, so let's
take a quick comparison, how far is the cinema? The cinema is about 2 kms by car, Okay the
distance and I say, okay so how long is the movie? Well the movie is about 2 hours. Again
it will tell you about the time. The movie is about 2 hours. How long will tell you the
amount of time. So amount of time, here that you are going to spend in the cinema watching
the movie is 2 hours but the distance that you are going to travel is 2 kms. Alright
friends so that is very clear, the difference between how far and how long.
The next example, how long will it take to reach the station? So I asked my friend how
far would he drive to reach the station? 45 kms. Okay, so how long will it take? Uhh...
may be about an hour and a half if there is no traffic or may be if there is traffic,
sorry. An hour and a half otherwise may be an hour. So again, when I ask how long, how
long, he will tell me the time that it takes to reach the station, alright. So how far
is the distance in kms? How long that means how much time, okay. So well you have one
hour or one and a half hour if there is traffic. Fine and the last example says how long are
you going to wait for her answer? So if you see the question here, how far would you go
to convince Mary to marry you? Yes, I'm going to do everything. I'm going to do a candle
light dinner. I'm going to buy her a nice expensive diamond ring and I'm going to dress
my best and look my best. Okay, so that is the extent and that is the kind of effort
you are going to put. That's how far you are going to go, right? But what if she is not
sure about her answer. How long are you going to wait for an answer? That means the amount
of time that you are ready to wait for. So you will say if she is not sure... maybe I’ll
give her a week's time, okay. So again the amount of time that you are ready to give
is one week. So you cannot say how far are you going to wait for her answer, that's not
the correct way, alright. So don't try interchanging these two questions because you cannot use
them interchangeably. So you say how long are you going to wait for her answer. Well
may be a week. Okay friends so that is how you use how far and how long. Remember how
far is for distance and the extent someone is ready to do something or the amount of
efforts he is ready to put. How long always deals with the amount of time it takes, a
year, a few minutes, months, weeks, or a decade. Okay, well i have a small test for you. Please
do take the test and let me know your scores. I'll be back soon with a new lesson, till
then, continue learning. Continue practising, bye.