Such a long journey

Book cover picture from Goodreads

It's the title of a book by Toronto author Rohinton Mistry. The phrase is a common one, and it emphasizes the length of the trip.

I had such a good time that I didn't want to leave the party. In this sentence, the emphasis is on how good the party was.

We use many similar forms:

I walked such a lot that...
It was such a good movie that....
Jane had such a good mark that....

The expression "such a long journey" follows the pattern such + a + adjective + noun. If the noun is plural, of course, the a is dropped (because a means one) and we get sentences like this:

She made such delicious croissants that they were all eaten within an hour.
Our neighbours are such good people that we hope they never move away.
I didn't expect to see such important people at the ceremony.
Dogs aren't such good pets as cats.

We can also say such a lot of + a plural noun or non-countable noun, like this:

Joe had such a lot of friends that he was out practically every evening.
Joe had such a lot of homework that there was no way he could finish it all.
He didn't expect the teacher to assign such a lot of homework.


The 'a' is also dropped when the noun is non-countable, like this:

I didn't expect to get such information (information of this type).
May didn't expect to experience such trouble at the border.
Such education is invaluable.


By the way, Such a long journey is a very good book. It's so good that when I read it a few years back, I remember that I stayed up nearly all night because I couldn't put it down.

In June 2012, Rohinton Mistry addressed the graduates of Ryerson University in Toronto.