Amount of time or length of time? | WordReference Forums

Is there really a preference as to which is more appropriate to use? Amount of time or length of time? Example: "Even if she gave me any ... Forums Dictionarysearch:  English-Spanish English-French English-Italian English-German English-Dutch English-Russian English-Portuguese English-Polish English-Romanian English-Swedish English-Czech English-Greek English-Turkish English-Chinese English-Japanese English-Korean English-Arabic Spanish-English French-English Italian-English German-English Dutch-English Russian-English Portuguese-English Polish-English Romanian-English Swedish-English Czech-English Greek-English Turkish-English Chinese-English Japanese-English Korean-English Arabic-English Spanish-French Spanish-Portuguese Spanish-Catalan French-Spanish Portuguese-Spanish Englishdefinition Englishsynonyms Englishcollocations Englishusage Italiandefinition Spanishdefinition Spanishsynonyms Catalandefinition Spanish French Italian Login Register What'snew Search Rules/Help/FAQ Members InterfaceLanguage Menu Login Register Installtheapp Install Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Youareusinganoutofdatebrowser.Itmaynotdisplaythisorotherwebsitescorrectly.Youshouldupgradeoruseanalternativebrowser. Amountoftimeorlengthoftime? Threadstarter pouretron Startdate Oct1,2014 P pouretron Member English-USA Istherereallyapreferenceastowhichismoreappropriatetouse?Amountoftimeorlengthoftime? Example: "Evenifshegavemeanyindicationthatshewasinterestedinjoiningmeoutsideforacasualwalkalongthestreetsforwhateveramount/lengthoftime,Iwouldrefuseitimmediately."   bibliolept SeniorMember NorthernCalifornia AE,Español Inthisexample,"length"wouldsoundmorenaturaltome.Idon'tknowifthereisaruleofthumbforsettlingthis,though.   B Biffo SeniorMember England English-England Wellhere'saninterestinggraph: Googlengram:amountoftime,lengthoftime Youcanseethat 1.before1800amountoftimewashardlyusedatall.Almostallentriesareforlengthoftime. 2.sincethentheusagehasbeenchanging. 2.duringthe1980samountoftimehasovertakenlengthoftime. P.S. IhavejustcheckedandBEisdifferent.Thecrossoveralmosthappenedaround2005butthereisnowaswingbacktowardslengthoftime. Googlengram:amountoftime,lengthoftime(BritishEnglish)   Lastedited:Oct2,2014 Z zhonglin SeniorMember Manila Mandarin Howaboutinthisexample?I'mdoubtfulabouttheword"for" 1)itusuallytakes2monthstoprocessVISAapplication,Idon'tthinkwecanwaitforthatlengthoftime.   JulianStuart SeniorMember SonomaCountyCA English(UKthenUS) Idon'tthinkwecanwaitthat;long.Thatwouldbethemostlikelyidiomaticwaytoexpressthemeaning. (Ipersonallywouldnotuse"amountoftime"asaphrase,partlybecausethesingleword"time"canreplaceitinmostinstances.)   Z zhonglin SeniorMember Manila Mandarin JulianStuartsaid: Idon'tthinkwecanwaitthat;long.Thatwouldbethemostlikelyidiomaticwaytoexpressthemeaning. (Ipersonallywouldnotuse"amountoftime"asaphrase,partlybecausethesingleword"time"canreplaceitinmostinstances.) Clicktoexpand... Thankyou,howaboutwhenIsaythephrase"thatlengthoftimeisprettylong"?Doesitsoundokay?   kentix SeniorMember English-U.S. JulianStuartsaid: Idon'tthinkwecanwaitthatlong. Clicktoexpand... That'smuchbetterthaneither. "Evenifshegavemeanysomeindicationthatshewasinterestedinjoiningmeoutsideforacasualwalkalongthestreetsforwhateveramount/lengthoftimehoweverlong,Iwouldimmediatelyrefuseithercompanyimmediately.   JulianStuart SeniorMember SonomaCountyCA English(UKthenUS) zhonglinsaid: Thankyou,howaboutwhenIsaythephrase"thatlengthoftimeisprettylong"?Doesitsoundokay? Clicktoexpand... ->That'saprettylongtime.   Youmustloginorregistertoreplyhere. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Share Link Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Top