not since 5 years ago

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ostap77

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"When is the last time you talked to your doughter?"

"Not since five years ago."

I dout grammar in this dialog. What do you think?
 

5jj

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Well, the most straightforward answer to the question would be, "Five years ago".

Any answer beginning with not is more likely to be one answering the question, "Have you talked to your daughter recently?"

Granted that some people might gve a not answer to your original question, I think that the most natural answer would be, "not for five years". I don't like "not since five years ago", but I think that is some strange prejudice of mine. I have nothing against "not since 2005" or "not since she left home", so the rational part of my brain tells me that "not since 5 years ago" must be acceptable.

My prejudice perhaps stems from years of teaching students that ago locates a time in the past and therefore requires the verb to be in the past tense, while since + past time/action, requires a present perfect - which is not really relevant to your query.
 

ostap77

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Well, the most straightforward answer to the question would be, "Five years ago".

Any answer beginning with not is more likely to be one answering the question, "Have you talked to your daughter recently?"

Granted that some people might gve a not answer to your original question, I think that the most natural answer would be, "not for five years". I don't like "not since five years ago", but I think that is some strange prejudice of mine. I have nothing against "not since 2005" or "not since she left home", so the rational part of my brain tells me that "not since 5 years ago" must be acceptable.

My prejudice perhaps stems from years of teaching students that ago locates a time in the past and therefore requires the verb to be in the past tense, while since + past time/action, requires a present perfect - which is not really relevant to your query.
I heard it from a Texan. Guess it might be a dialect?
 
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