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Twelvemile Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

"before" or "by the time" with future perfect

Are these two both acceptable? If one is more preferable, why?

·The train will have left before we get to the station.
·The train will have left by the time we get to the station.

P.S. I only see "by the time" in textbooks refering to completion of future perfect.
  

Top answer

twelvemile Are these two both acceptable? Yes. Both are grammatical and meaningful, but the second (with by the time ) is more idiomatic.

— CalifJim

  • twelvemile Are these two both acceptable?
  • Yes.
  • Both are grammatical and meaningful, but the second (with by the time ) is more idiomatic.
  • CJ
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10 Answers
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twelvemileAre these two both acceptable?
Yes. Both are grammatical and meaningful, but the second (with by the time) is more idiomatic.

CJ
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They both are grammatically correct but not same meaning. If you use before, we can ask before you get to station but how long before ? We can ask when ?
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ozan duralThey both are grammatically correct but not same meaning.
They have the same meaning for me.
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What do you mean saying that these're same for you ? According to your own gramer rules ? Or according to passage?
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ozan duralWhat do you mean saying that these're same for you ?
I am a native speaker.
If I heard these two different sentences, I would get the same meaning.
That is this future situation — we arrive at the station. There is no train. It has already left.
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Ok, i don't have a problem with ur nativity Emotion: smile And i'm not native speaker. But i think if you say by the time, you can see the train
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ozan dural But i think if you say by the time, you can see the train while it's moving..
No. That's not what I would think.
This is the way to say what you wrote:

We will get to the station just as the train is leaving.
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ok, i think you are right.. Emotion: smile Thank you very much
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I figured out your issue.

You confused "by the time" with "at the time."

By the time = sometime before
At the time = the same time, simultaneously
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