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Anonymous Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

when - by the time

0Can these two sometimes be used interchangeably? In which ones? Thanks.02br
02br
0001 When / By the time he arrives, we will begin the meeting.02br
0002 When / By the time he arrives, we will have begun the meeting.02br
0003 When / By the time he has arrived, we will have a meeting.02br
0004 When / By the time he arrived, we had had a meeting.02br
0005 When / By the time he arrived, we had a meeting.02br
0006 When / By the time he arrived, we were having a meeting.02br
0007 When / By the time he arrived, we had already begun the meeting.02br
0008 When / By the time he was arriving, we were having a meeting.02br
0009 When / By the time he was arriving, we had a meeting.02br
0010 When / By the time he was arriving, we had a meeting.0-
  

Top answer

0 "When " = at the moment that he arrives02br 02br 00"By the time" = indicates something has already happened/is happening when he arrived0-

— Feebs11

  • 0 "When " = at the moment that he arrives02br 02br 00"By the time" = indicates something has already happened/is happening when he arrived0-
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13 Answers
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0 "When " = at the moment that he arrives02br
02br
00"By the time" = indicates something has already happened/is happening when he arrived0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Anonymous12cite10Can these two sometimes be used interchangeably? In which ones? Thanks.12br
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1001 11font10When12font10 / 11del10By the time12del10 he arrives, we will begin the meeting.12br
1002 11font
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0 See this thread:02br
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050040pid325289
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Yankee12cite12br
1005 11font10When12font10 / 11del10By the time12del10 he arrived, we had a meeting.12br
12br
1004 11del10When12del10 / By the time he arrived, we had had a meeting.12br
12br
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Diamondrg12cite11b10---- the library was about to close, I found a useful book for my essay, so I rushed to the counter immediately.12b12br
12br
10A) Before 12br
10B) While 12br
10C) Ever since 12br
10D) Just as 12br
10E) By the time12br
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Yankee12cite10The verb 'arrive' is not appropriate in the past progressive tense in your sentence. The arrival is a point in time during the (longer) meeting. 12br
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12blockquote
10Right. Then what about this? Is it OK to use 'by the time' with the past continuous'?02br
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0 Hi Diamondrg02br
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0005) If you say "When he arrived, we had a meeting" I understand that to mean "We began a meeting after he arrived".02br
00If you said "By the time he arrived, we had a meeting", the meaning would be unclear, but I would probably guess that you want to tell me that he arrived after the meeting was finished.02br
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0Thank you, Yankee.0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Diamondrg12cite11blockquote
11cite20Yankee22cite20The verb 'arrive' is not appropriate in the past progressive tense in your sentence. The arrival is a point in time during the (longer) meeting. 22br
22blockquote
20Right. Then what about this? Is it OK to use 'b
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Yankee12cite10Hi Diamondrg12br
10You're welcome. 12br
10Sorry, I ran out of time yesterday to address the questions above.12br
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10Hi, Yankee02br
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00According to the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 'by' means '00not later than; at
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