Forum: ell.stackexchange.com
Tags: <word-choice><adjectives><word-difference><exclamatives>
Title: Should I say a question is "very long" or "large" or "big" or "huge"?
Question: Someone asked a question with lots of content, and I said  wow a very long question  after hearing his question. Was that OK? Later I was wondering which one I should use:   wow a very long question  wow a large question  wow a big question  wow a huge question     Which one is correct?

Answers:
sents: text: All four are correct for your situation; they just have slightly different meanings.
text: You can also use very with any of the four choices.
text: Think about it: all four are adjectives, so if using one is grammatically correct, then the other three will be as well.
text: I would alter the sentence a little, but the way you've phrased it is not wrong.
text: I'd put it like this:
text: Wow, what a * question!
text: Or like this:
text: Wow, that's a * question!
text: Replace * with any of the four words; all are equally correct.
text: The use of what or that's focus the exclamation a little bit more, making the sentence a little more versatile, but aren't strictly necessary.
text: How about the differences in meaning?
text: The standout of the four words you're asking about is long ; the other three are quite close in meaning, but long is distinct from them.
text: If you say what a long question , you're remarking on the length of the content.
text: A long question uses a lot of words (or pictures, charts, etc.) to ask.
text: A question described as big , huge , or large might be long , or it might be weighty, substantial, or of great significance or importance .
text: A big question might be long but unimportant, long and important, or important but short.
text: Here's an example of a question which is big but not long : what is the meaning of life?
text: Big , large and huge are all extremely close in meaning, but have slightly different magnitudes.
text: Big and large are roughly equal
text: (I would rate big as slightly bigger, but this is largely a matter of opinion), and huge is significantly larger than either of the other two.
text: Since you want to describe the length of the content of the question, long is the unambiguous choice, but you can call it big , large or huge if you want.
text: People will understand that you mean the question has a lot of content, though depending on that content they might think you also mean the question is important or substantial in meaning.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/6407/Esoteric Screen Name
score: 3
sents: text: I'm going to say that a question with lots of content is most accurately a long question.
text: A big question can also be a question with lots of content as well, but it can also mean a short question that's important.
text: For example: The big question is not whether we have enough money to go to the movies tonight, it's whether we have enough money to pay the rent tomorrow.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/1883/BobRodes
score: 3
sents: text: "Wow, a very long question" is the most understandable of the original poster's four alternatives.
text: These two options sound even more natural:
text: Wow, that's a very long question!
text: Wow, that's a long question!
text: Both the exclamatory tone of voice, and the use of "Wow", make these choices informal.
text: The exclamatory tone, or the use of "Wow", makes the "very" redundant.
text: All of the adjectives ("long", "very long", "large", "big", and "huge") describe the size of the question.
text: The specific dimension is length, as measured in words, letters, time to read, or time to say.
text: Thus, "long" and "very long" are the best options.
text: If the question was about a very important topic, or would take a lot of effort to answer completely, it would be a "big" question.
text: A question about an unimportant topic would be a "minor" question.
text: A question that is very easy to answer would be a "trivial" question.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/9100/Jasper
score: 2
sents: text: You need to use your choice #1.
text: It was a very long question.
text: We would generally not use big question to mean having "lots of content" because big question is a fixed phrase (semi-fixed; fixed expression) that has a special meaning.
text: When we position big before question, then big is understood to mean big > adjective 2 >of considerable importance or seriousness.
text: We sometimes use huge in front of question to mean very big -- big in this sense of important.
text: We won't normally use large because large does not (at least not commonly) share this meaning.
text: A look through results of a web search for "big question" quickly shows its meaning, and the results of a search for "large question" quickly demonstrates that it's used rarely if at all.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/11885/Jim Reynolds
score: 2
sents: text: Wow, what a great question!
text: Of the four choices, long us by far the best.
text: However, depending on circumstances, more appropriate adjectives might be complicated or complex .
text: Since long merely describes the number of words or the time taken to convey the question, it could also mean that the person was being needlessly verbose.
text: (For example, some people like to include a lot of unnecessary background information before getting to the point, thus making a long question out of a simple one.)
text: Interestingly, the other adjectives have quite a different meaning.
text: A big , large , or huge question indicates uncertainty.
text: A: "Shall we start interviewing candidates for the project manager role?"
text: B:
text: "No, we should wait until we find out whether funding for the position is approved — and that's a huge question.
text: "
text: That means that B thinks that there is a significant probability that funding will be denied.
text: In addition, big question can also mean that it is important as well as uncertain: The big question on investors' minds this morning is, will the Federal Reserve raise interest rates?
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/5289/200_success
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
All of the adjectives ("long", "very long", "large", "big", and "huge") describe the size of the question.  However, if the question was about a very important topic, or would take a lot of effort to answer completely, it would be a "big" question.  A question with lots of content would be a  "long"  question.  
A big question can refer to its importance. A long question is more about length. All four can be used and describe size.