It was 7 to 8 years ago

[Winwin2011]

We cannot locate the documents because it was 7 to 8 years ago.

Is the above sentence natural?

 

[teechar]

What does "it" refer to?

 

[Winwin2011]

What does "it" refer to?

“It“refers to time.

 

[Tarheel]

It depends on the context. (See below.)

Al: I need a copy of my birth certificate.
Bob: What year were you born?
Al: 1950
Bob: I can't guarantee that we'll be able to find anything that's that old.
Al: You've got to be kidding.

 

[tedmc]

“It“refers to time.

"Time" could mean the time they tried to locate the documents or the age of the documents. The sentence is ambiguous.

 

[Winwin2011]

We cannot locate the documents because they are 7 to 8 years ago.

If I change “it” to “they”, is it natural?

 

[PeterCW]

We cannot locate the documents because they are 7 to 8 years ago.

If I change “it” to “they”, is it natural?

No. "Ago" refers to something happening which isn't specified. Your original sentence might work in the context of a conversation that defines what the documents relate to but not in isolation.

Without context it would be better to say something like "..... because they are seven or eight years old."

 

[emsr2d2]

“It“ space here refers to time.

That doesn't make sense. "It" needs to refer to whatever event the documents relate to.

 

[Piscean]

We cannot locate the documents relating to the fire because it was 7 to 8 years ago.

Here 'it' refers to the fire.

 

[Winwin2011]

1. The documents cannot be located because they are seven or eight years old.

2. The documents cannot be located because they were seven or eight years ago.

3. The documents cannot be located because they were long time ago.

Which of the above sentences are correct?

 

[Tarheel]

@Winwin2011
1. This one is grammatical but makes no sense. The age of the documents has nothing to do with whether they can be found or not.

2. That makes no sense.

3. That makes no sense.

 

[Winwin2011]

@Winwin2011
1. This one is grammatical but makes no sense. The age of the documents has nothing to do with whether they can be found or not.

2. That makes no sense.

3. That makes no sense.

Then how should I say “I cannot locate the documents because the documents are relating to year 2013 or 2014? I think they are long time ago. Can anybody help?

 

[Tarheel]

@Winwin2011 Try:

I can't find the documents. I don't know where they are.

What difference does the year make?

Documents cannot be a long time ago.

Who is "anybody"?

 

[Piscean]

anybody help?

I made a suggestion in post #9.

 

[Winwin2011]

@Winwin2011 Try:

I can't find the documents. I don't know where they are.

What difference does the year make?

Documents cannot be a long time ago.

Who is "anybody"?

Because I cannot locate the documents, I need to explain the reason. For example the documents were attached in my emails which was 7 years ago. Or the accounting documents were packed into a warehouse. Or the documents were saved in an old computer. Now the old computer cannot be turned on.

 

[Tarheel]

@Winwin2011 If you know the reason then all you have to do is state that reason. Perhaps:

I can't find the documents. They were in a warehouse. There was a fire that destroyed everything inside. They are unrecoverable.

 

[Tarheel]

@Winwin2011 You are making the same mistake. Emails can't be "seven years ago". They can be seven years old.

Maybe you can't find emails that are that old. I don't know.

 

[Winwin2011]

@Winwin2011 If you know the reason then all you have to do is state that reason. Perhaps:

I can't find the documents. They were in a warehouse. There was a fire that destroyed everything inside. They are unrecoverable.

Usually a company would not put its accounting documents of 2012 in its cabinet. These documents would be moved to a warehouse. Or these documents was destroyed because they are too old.

 

[Winwin2011]

Banks In Hong kong do not provide copies for bank statements which are over 7 years.

 

[Tarheel]

Usually a company would not put its accounting documents of 2012 in its cabinet. These documents would be moved to a warehouse. Or these documents WERE destroyed because they WERE too old.

If that's the case they destroyed them on purpose. It was not an accident. You could say you destroy any documents that old. Of course, if somebody asked for those documents they might not be happy with that explanation.