Is there any alternative expression to replace "once upon a time"?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
The phrase "once upon a time" is used to indicate that something happened or existed a long time ago or in an imaginary world. You will see it most often used at the beginning of children's stories. As this clip is a children's story that is why this particular phrase is being used. You could also replace it with "long ago" and achieve the same nuance. But, I don't think there is any other expression you could use that will give the same feeling to the sentence. Ex: Once upon a time, in a land far away. Ex: Long ago, in a land far away.