by Friday

Question

Please explain "by Friday" in the sentence:"The students have to memorise these three poems by Friday."Thanks a lot.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

They have to finish the task before Friday comes.

CJ

Milky · Answer

MinhuocPlease explain "by Friday" in the sentence:

"The students have to memorise these three poems by Friday."

Thanks a lot.

The deadline is Friday at the latest.

Nona the brit · Answer

I'd say that it needs to be done before Friday. To me it sounds as though they have to memorise the poems and then work on them in class on Friday - perhaps they will be asked to recite one of them. It's no good them waiting until Friday to learn them - that is too late.

When you say say something needs to be done 'by' a time or date, it means the task must be completed before that time or date.

Imagine you were told to do something by 3pm. You know you must have it finished at 3pm, you don't wait until 3pm to start.

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks for your explanation. It's very helpful.

Minhuoc · Answer

Thanks for your explanation. It's very helpful to me.

Milky · Answer

Nona The BritI'd say that it needs to be done before Friday. To me it sounds as though they have to memorise the poems and then work on them in class on Friday - perhaps they will be asked to recite one of them. It's no good them waiting until Friday to learn them - that is too late.

When you say say something needs to be done 'by' a time or date, it means the task must be completed before that time or date.

Imagine you were told to do something by 3pm. You know you must have it finished at 3pm, you don't wait until 3pm to start.

I'd say that "by Friday" can also include a part of Friday.

Clive · Answer

Hi guys,

If it were something important, I'd ask for clarification of 'by Friday'.

In such cases, businesses sometimes use expressions like 'by close of business on Friday'.

Best wishes, Clive

Milky · Answer

CliveHi guys,

If it were something important, I'd ask for clarification of 'by Friday'.

In such cases, businesses sometimes use expressions like 'by close of business on Friday'.

Best wishes, Clive

And if a lesson were at, say, 3pm on Friday, one could say "I want the homework finished by Friday" and mean before 3pm on that day.

MrPedantic · Answer

I think in a strange way both interpretations are correct. In contexts where you would say "do XYZ by Friday", the implication is often that you should have finished XYZ before Friday, in readiness for something that happens on Friday.

So when someone asks you to finish a piece of work "by Friday", it really means "the work will be required of you at some time during Friday". And if the "requiring party" then calls you at 8am on Friday, and you haven't finished it, there's really no defence – though in reality, most of us would probably still be scrabbling frantically away at it, and hoping against hope that the phone call wouldn't happen till 3pm.

(But I may be imagining things.)

MrP

Milky · Answer

MrPedantic
I think in a strange way both interpretations are correct. In contexts where you would say "do XYZ by Friday", the implication is often that you should have finished XYZ before Friday, in readiness for something that happens on Friday.

So when someone asks you to finish a piece of work "by Friday", it really means "the work will be required of you at some time during Friday". And if the "requiring party" then calls you at 8am on Friday, and you haven't finished it, there's really no defence – though in reality, most of us would probably still be scrabbling frantically away at it, and hoping against hope that the phone call wouldn't happen till 3pm.

(But I may be imagining things.)

MrP

In context, one usually knows if the utterance refers to before 12:01am on Friday or it means "before the time on Friday that we have arranged or is obvious to both of us".

And what about "by the time Friday comes, you should have finished the report..."

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