Examples:
I meet your brother quite a bit these days but I haven’t
seen your sister in/for* ages.
It seems ages since I was last here.
In would only be used after a negative or superlative construction,
e.g.
It’s the best film I’ve seen in ages.
But not in the future, i.e. we would not say: We won’t arrive inages.
It can be used with:
for, in, takes, took, be, were, was, before, after; and each way of using it is slightly different.
Meaning
The meaning of “ages” is simple, but the senses in which it is used are more difficult to grasp:
a long time; a very long time
an eternity
a longer time than the speaker wants
an amount of time that the speaker considers significant
often used as a way of complaining that whatever is wanted is taking or will take too much time
Variants
for ages
in ages
takes ages
it will be ages
you were ages
it was ages
ages before
after ages
ages
It may be used with:
for, in, takes, took, be, were, was, before, after; and every way of victimization it’s slightly different.
which means
The meaning of “ages” is simple, however the senses within which it is used are tougher to grasp:
an extended time; a really very long time
associate degree eternity
a extended time than the speaker desires
an quantity of your time that the speaker considers important
often used as some way of whiny that no matter is needed is taking or can take too much time
Variants
for ages
in ages
takes ages
it’ll be ages
you were ages
it had been ages
ages before
when ages
- I haven’t seen you in ages – you look different.
- We haven’t been here for ages; we must come here more often.
- It takes ages to learn to play the guitar.
- It took ages to get there.
- It will be ages before we get our exam results.
- I will not be able to meet her for ages because I have so much work on.
- You were ages in the bathroom. What were you doing?
- I was ages putting this proposal together. I hope they like it.
- I met her online about 2010, but it was ages before I met her in real life.
- The restaurant was lovely and the conversation was good, but it was ages before they brought the food.
- I have not seen her going to temple in ages.