By the time

Question

Are the following sentences correct? Do they mean the same?The baby started to cry by the time the mother had left the room.By the time the baby started to cry the mother had left the room.

Tkacka15 · Accepted Answer

moginn Are the following sentences correct? Do they mean the same?The baby started to cry by the time the mother had left the room.By the time the baby started to cry the mother had left the room.

The first sentence is a bit tricky, but if you mean "by the time" as "not later than" in it, then, in my opinion, that sentence is correct.

The second sentence is clear. The sequence of actions is obvious, i.e. the first action: "the mother had (already) left", the second one: "the baby started to cry".

PS: I'm a non-native, so wait for other opinions; they may differ from mine.

GPY · Answer

I don't find the first one very satisfactory. This would be better in my opinion:

The baby had started to cry by the time the mother left the room.

Or perhaps better still:

By the time the mother left the room, the baby had started to cry.

I agree with tkacka that the second one is clear.

BarbaraPA · Answer

They certainly dont mean the same though.

Anonymous · Answer

Both originals are correct and need to be used to differentiate a fact.  In the context of these statements, (by) means (up to and including.)  So... in the first, we are told the mother heard the baby cry and in the second she didn't.  GPY's examples both mean the same, the only difference being verb placement.  [Btw, wish I could read full comments, the three dots ... doesn't do anything (expand?) on my phone, in case this is already stated where I can't see it]

By the time

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