give it a value in seconds, and it will return a sentence

gistfile1.rb

  def length_of_time_in_words(seconds)
    seconds = seconds.to_i
    
    %w[ year month week day hour minute second ].collect do |unit|

      
      unit_in_seconds = 1.send(unit).to_i
      n = seconds / unit_in_seconds
      seconds -= n * unit_in_seconds
      
      pluralize(n, unit) unless n.zero?
    end.compact.to_sentence
  end