A Very Long Engagement

a Determinative

— A is used when the following word could be any of a certain type. Compare "A book I saw on the shelf" and "The book I gave you yesterday".

a Noun

— A is the first letter of the alphabet. The letter "a" comes before "b". — In some schools, an A is a very high grade. Ron got an A on his earth science test.

very Adverb

— Much; quite. Using very makes the adjective or adverb stronger. He was very young.

very Adjective

— Exact. This man is the very one for the job.

long Adjective

— If something is long, it takes a lot of time. At 3 hours and 24 minutes, it's a very long movie. That was a long time ago, when I was a child. How long is it until we have our trip? He was often quiet for long periods of time. — If something is long, it has a large distance from end to end. It belonged to a woman in her thirties with long brown hair. The paper was about 20 cm long and 12 cm wide. You can hear it across long distances. She wore a long gray skirt with a black jacket.

long Adverb

— If something takes long, it takes a lot of time. We had dinner together not so long ago. I do not know how long I was standing there. She left home long before I did. I could not go on any longer. Those days are so long gone. This change is long overdue.

long Verb

— If you long for something, you wish for or really want it. Carol still longs for David to come back to her even though she knows he has a new wife.

engagement Noun

— Engagement is an arrangement to do something or go somewhere at a fixed time. The lecturer has three speaking engagements this week. — Engagement is a formal agreement to get . We are enjoying a long engagement, but haven't yet set a date. — An engagement is a situation of conflict. The engagement resulted in many .