Amelia W. Williams's dissertation attempting to identify all of the Texians who died at the Alamo

Question

I wouldn't have used 'after' in the given text. Would my approach have been correct? What is the reason for using 'after'. 'I didn't started watching English movies until 1999' clearly means that I had started waching English movies after 1999.

The first history of the battle was published in 1843, but serious study of the battle did not begin until after the 1931 publication of Amelia W. Williams's dissertation attempting to identify all of the Texians who died at the Alamo.

Avangi · Accepted Answer

I think it's just a technical matter. Some so-called "events" last for several years. Thus we may speak of "before the Iraq war," "during the Iraq war," and "after (or following) the Iraq war."

Some events, on the other hand, are more or less instantaneous, such as the publication of a book, the signing of a treaty, the blowing up of a bridge.

"Before 1918" would not include 1918. Neither would "after 1918.

By the way, "Texians" is a new one on me. In John Wayne's movie about the Alamo, they were called "Texicans." These days they're called "Texans." Maybe Alphecca Stars would know. She's a Texan.

Re "not until after the publication of the book," I think we're simply dividing time into two periods here: before the publication, and after the publication. Behavior in this particular respect was different in the two periods.
Also, we didn't have the internet back then. If we accept that the reading of, and the spread of, this book created an interest which led to the serious study of the battle, we have to allow a little time to elapse before this study can truly be called "serious." It's not going to be instantanious. "After the publication" seems appropriate. The single event may have initiated it, but the serious study went through a warming-up period.

Re "not until 1999," the negative state ceases at the beginning of 1999. 1999 is positive.

"Gay marriages were banned before 1999."
"Gay marriages were not allowed until 1999."
These sentences mean the same thing.

"Gay marriages were not allowed until after 1999." This is a horse of a different color. In 1999, gay marriages were not alowed. (This is an imaginary scenario, BTW.)

Jackson6612 · Answer

Avangi, thank you very much for the clarification. I also watched the movie 'The Alamo' which is a newer version and this made me to to read Wikipedia article on the Battle of Alamo. The movie was really bad.

Amelia W. Williams's dissertation attempting to identify all of the Texians who died at the Alamo

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