As adjective : Years ago (qualifying noun) As preposition : Dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago.(linking a noun phrase) Though born out of "agone", in its present day usage, 'ago' is more an adverb or preposition than an adjective (in a restricted sense). …

If you use a when-indication with "ago" you clearly refer to an event in the past and you use the past tense. If you want to indicate that the opening of the new restaurant is an up-to-date fact you use the Perfect: "My parents have opened a new restaurant" without indicating a time in the past.

2016年7月6日 · In reported speech, the speaker changes, so the word ago no longer conveys the correct time. The word ago is therefore changed to earlier or before. On this basis, the word ago in your example references the present (time) of the speaker of the sentence. Since you indicate that the full sentence was uttered in 2016, the time two years ago ...

2012年9月9日 · On the other hand, a long time ago means a long time ago in the past. Now, they could be used interchangeably in some cases, but once upon time could refer to something that happened a few days or a month ago, which is not long time ago, while the other couldn't.

2018年4月25日 · 'Since' is often used as word to identify a specific time reference, however two months ago is not specific. This has to do with Present Perfect Tense. Ago is a reference to the past, whereas Since is a reference to a period, or specific time. This pattern of speech is quite uncommon in today's spoken English.

2023年2月22日 · One outlier from 1995 (in a periodical called Strides), however, pegs the best time at five years ago, the second best as now, and the worst at "three years from now." Another source (McHenry's Quips, Quotes and Other Notes [1999]) argues for ten years ago. Yet another (Urban Forestry [1991]) pushes the ideal planting time back to fifty years ago.

2017年12月20日 · For example, "A few days ago, I went shopping" or "Last Monday, I finished reading my book"

2015年11月5日 · However, people on various other websites {eg massromantic at WordReference} consider 'three years back' less formal than 'three years ago', and I'd agree with them, especially for British usage: "Yes, I think it ['a few years back'] is slightly more informal. I don't see it written often -- I usually just hear people say it."

That's when we first met many, many moons ago and then we started having him on as a regular guest maybe once a month, maybe even twice a month. When I Googled "origin of ‘many moons ago’" the only relevant page I found was Yahoo! Answers whose best answer was: “many moons ago means a long time ago” But a second commenter said:

2014年8月20日 · The date has already passed, or the past date. Past: Usage: The past participle of pass is sometimes wrongly spelt past: the time for recriminations has passed (not past)