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Seyfihoca Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

*until, by the time

Hello

What is the exact difference between the words?

Thank you
  

Top answer

'Until' seems to work as the end point of an activity or non-activity: I won't see you again until next week. I won't give you the report until I see you next week. I was crying until I saw her again at last.

  • 'Until' seems to work as the end point of an activity or non-activity: I won't see you again until next week.
  • I won't give you the report until I see you next week.
  • I was crying until I saw her again at last.
  • 'By the time' seems to require a more definitely completed action/event: By the time I saw her again, I had been crying for a week.
  • I will have left by the time you wake up.
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3 Answers
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'Until' seems to work as the end point of an activity or non-activity:

I won't see you again until next week.
I won't give you the report until I see you next week.
I was crying until I saw her again at last.

'By the time' seems to require a more definitely completed action/event:

By the time I saw her again, I had been crying for a week.
I will have le
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can we say


until ise used with verbs that can be performed "for a certain time", whereas by the time is used with verbs that are performed "in a moment"?

i.e.

until + wait, run, study, walk, drive etc.
by the time + finish, understand, send, start, arrive

by the way, can we say "by the time" is not used with negative tenses and/or modals, plus an
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X until Y:

Activity or state X continues, but typically not after Y occurs. X is usually thought of as stopping when Y happens, even though the words do not say this literally.

I'll read until you get home. (Nothing definite is said about what I'll do when you come home, but the usual interpretation is that I will stop reading.)
I kept on reading until M

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