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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

By the time

I can't understand the exact difference between "by the time" and "until" . Could you explain it and also give some examples, please?

Thanks,
Bernard
  

Top answer

Bernard- by the time- some event will occur BEFORE some other event. By the time I get to Chicago, my cell phone's battery will be dead. Until--some event will CONTINUE until some point.

— Old Man Gordon

  • Bernard- by the time- some event will occur BEFORE some other event.
  • By the time I get to Chicago, my cell phone's battery will be dead.
  • Until--some event will CONTINUE until some point.
  • My phone worked until I reached the suburbs of Chicago.
  • One looks at a point in time, the other looks at duration.
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10 Answers
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Bernard-

by the time- some event will occur BEFORE some other event. By the time I get to Chicago, my cell phone's battery will be dead.

Until--some event will CONTINUE until some point. My phone worked until I reached the suburbs of Chicago.

One looks at a point in time, the other looks at duration.

Does that help?
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The ceremony will begin by the time we arrive. OK.
The ceremony will begin until we arrive. NO.
The ceremony will continue by the time the sun sets. NO.
The ceremony will continue until the sun sets. OK.

I'll have finished this letter by the time dinner is ready. OK.
I'll have finished this letter until dinner is ready. NO.
I'll keep writing this letter by the ti
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Yes! Thank you very much, Mr.Gordon.

Best wishes,
Bernard
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Thanks CalifJim for the examples. I even wrote some using until. Here they are
(in case of any mistakes, please let me know):

a) The doctor will treat his patient until he recovers his health.

b) The plane won't take off until all the passengers have got/gotten on board.

c) The
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a) The doctor will treat his patient until he recovers his health. OK.

b) The plane won't take off until all the passengers have got/gotten on board. OK.

c) The farmer took care of the crop till (or until) the sunset. Almost. It's a little unidiomatic. Le
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Hi CalifJim

Thanks for taking a look at my sentences. Concerning letter C) * "The farmer tended the crops until/till the sun set" :

- Every time that we are referring to "take care of" plants or animals we have to use the verb tend? Is it gramatically wrong
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Anonymous Every time that we are referring to "take care of" plants or animals we have to use the verb tend? Is it gramatically wrong if we use the expression to take care of?
No. You don't have to use tend. It just came to mind as I was writing, and I thought it sounded nice.
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Thanks, CalifJim. So just to confirm I can say e.g.:

a) She took care of her pet.
She tended her pet.

b) He took care of the crops.
He tended crops.

but

c) The doctor took care of his patients.

Other detail. We don't use articles and prepositions after tend, do we? e.g. Sh
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See http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tend for definitions and usage of tend. There you'll see that tend is, in fact, used for people: tend a sick person. But it sounds strange to me.

You'll also see there that tend is sometimes used with the preposition
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Thank you!

Best wishes,
Bernard
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