11.   Jefferson sent his request by way of diplomats he knew who knew her, and she took months to respond.

12.   Redecorating the kitchen took months.

13.   Some parents reach this state of equilibrium within a few weeks after the birth, whereas others take many months.

14.   The cleanup of the oil spill took months.

15.   The construction, which took a few months, generated increasing excitement.

16.   When he returned to London it would take months of arguing with some scrupulous clerk of the Exchequer to get it reimbursed.

17.   It took several months for his wounds to heal.

18.   The whole process is expected to take a few months.

19.   The declared aim of re-establishing Kuwaiti sovereignty, it was suggested, would be accomplished by an economic blockade of Iraq, and could take some months to achieve.

20.   The process of identification was expected to take several months but human rights groups were confident that it would provide evidence of indiscriminate killing.