Obviously, "ago" is preferred because it flows off the tongue better in the sample sentence provided. The other words just clunk along; some have far too many syllables for any ordinary English speaker; and the differences in meaning are negligible. akra (who is catching up on his reading) Albert E. Krahn PLEASE REPLY TO [log in to unmask] (alternate, [log in to unmask]) http://online.milwaukee.tec.wi.us/eng-201 (course) http://punctuation.org (home page) PUNCT-L, a mailing list for the discussion of punctuation