*until, by the time

Question

Hello What is the exact difference between the words? Thank you

Mister Micawber · Accepted 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.

'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.
By the time you get my note, I'll be in Phoenix.
By the time of the last Plantagenet, the decimation of the Catholic Church had been completed.

Still, I am not confident of this interpretation, Seyf.

Seyfihoca · Answer

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 any negative expression?

CalifJim · Answer

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 Matt called.

Not X until Y ( a ):

The activity or state X continues or may continue, but stops before Y occurs.

I'm not waiting until you get home (to eat dinner). (I may wait or not, but if I do wait, the waiting will cease before you get home. By the time you get home I may have already eaten dinner.)
The children were unable to sit quietly until the the film ended. (By the time the film ended the children were restless and noisy.)

Not X until Y ( b ):

Event X will not happen before event Y happens (or before state Y or activity Y begins).

I won't start dinner until you get home. (The starting of dinner will not take place before your getting home. Presumably, I will start dinner when you get home.)
The children would not sit still until I promised them ice cream.

X by the time Y:

Event X has already occurred (or state X or activity X has already begun) before Y occurs.

I'll have gotten dinner ready by the time you get home. (When you get home, you will notice that I have already prepared dinner.)
I'm so worried I'll probably be a nervous wreck by the time I hear the doctor's report.

Not X by the time Y:

Event X has not yet occurred (or state X or activity X has not yet begun) before Y occurs.

I won't have finished making dinner by the time you get home. (When you get home, you will notice that I am still preparing dinner -- that I have not yet finished preparing dinner.)
By the time we cleaned up all the damage another tornado had struck.

________

It would be rather strange for a negative clause to occur after either "until" or "by the time".

CJ

*until, by the time

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