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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Until

Hello, I would like to ask you about the following sentences.

Last night I could not sleep, so I read a book until 3.00.

Last night I could not sleep, so I was reading a book until 3.00.

He cleaned the shoes until they shone.

He was cleaning the shoes until they shone.

Could you please tell me which of the given sentences are correct? Thank you very much.
  

Top answer

Hello, Actually, all of your sentences are grammatically correct. Each does, however, imply a slightly different meaning. sentence 1: This implies that when you realized you could not sleep, you decided to get out of bed and read a book until 3:00.

  • Hello, Actually, all of your sentences are grammatically correct.
  • Each does, however, imply a slightly different meaning.
  • sentence 1: This implies that when you realized you could not sleep, you decided to get out of bed and read a book until 3:00.
  • sentence 2: This is more like you perhaps lost track of time or were just haphazardly doing something because you couldn't sleep, and it just happened to be reading a book, and happened to be until 3 am.
  • sentence 3: He was cleaning the shoes for the purpose of making them shine.
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1 Answers
0
Hello,

Actually, all of your sentences are grammatically correct. Each does, however, imply a slightly different meaning.

sentence 1: This implies that when you realized you could not sleep, you decided to get out of bed and read a book until 3:00.

sentence 2: This is more like you perhaps lost track of time or were just haphazardly doing something because you couldn't s

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