I have a bit of confusion regarding the use of interrogatives while asking questions about time in the past.
How would we ask about time at which we did something in the past?
How much time ago did we arrive here? or How long ago did we arrive here?
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4When did we arrive here? What time did we arrive here?– user140086Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 15:27
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3"When...?" is not the same question as "How much time has elapsed since...?" The question is about the grammatical nature of the word ago and how that fits into a sentence. I don't think it should be treated as a request to re-word.– Andrew Leach ♦Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 15:31
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2 Answers
I think the most common way of saying that would be:
"When did we get here?"
or
"How long have we been here?"
or more formally
"How long ago did we get here?"
It would be "How long ago did we arrive here?", as that establishes a relative anchor point in the immediate present.
"When did we arrive here?" has no such relative anchors. Possible answers could be "Before dawn", "You arrived shortly after lunch", or "In the evening", which would then have to be clarified as of which day, which evening, et cetera.
