LESSON NOTES

English Grammar Made Easy S1 #1

The Difference Between

CONTENTS
2 Grammar

# 1
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GRAMMAR

Int r oduce t oday's t opic: t he differ ence bet ween "unt il" and "by" (basic)

I'll be at the office until 7 PM. VS I'll be at the office by 7 PM.

What's the difference?

"I'll be at the office until 7 PM" means:

I'm at the office now, but at 7 PM, I'm going to leave the office.

"I'll be at the office by 7 PM" means:

I'm not at the office now, but at 7 PM (or earlier) I'll be there.

Unt il
We use "until" for a continuing situation or state that's going to change or stop
The change happens at the time or point specified after "until."

"He's working until November" means:

He is going to continue working, but when November arrives, he's going to stop
"We're playing until 9" means;
We're going to continue playing, but at 9, we're going to stop.
"I'm sleeping till 11" means:
I'm going to continue sleeping, but at 11, I'm going to wake up.

Notice we can use "till" or "til" as a short way of explaining "until."

We can make more complex sentences with "until," like:

"We can't leave the house until your mother calls," which means:
We are waiting for your mother to call. We have to wait for your mother's phone call. After she
calls, we can leave.
"I was really excited to go to the concert...until I saw the ticket prices," which means:
I was really excited to go to the concert, but then I saw the ticket prices, and my excitement
decreased.
The nuance with this sentence is that the tickets are very expensive.
This is a past tense sentence, and shows that the point when the speaker noticed the price of
the tickets
is the point where the continuing action (excitement) stopped.

"I'm not going to travel abroad until I learn more English," means:
"I'm not going to travel abroad until I learn more English," means:
This is a future tense sentence. The speaker describes the change or stop in status (decision
to travel abroad) with "until I learn more English."

We can see that "until" marks a point where a past, present, or future action stops or
changes.

By

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Now let's talk about "by." We use "by" to express a deadline, or a point by which a change is
going to happen.

"He has to find a new job by November" means:

He's looking for a new job, and November is his deadline. He HAS TO find a new job before
November is over.
"I need to leave by 10 PM," means:
10 PM is the latest time I can stay. Leaving before 10 PM is okay, but 10 PM is my deadline.
"Please submit this report by Friday," means:
You have to submit this report. Friday is the deadline. You can submit the report before
Friday.

Notice each sentence has a "deadline" nuance. It's okay if the action is completed before the
deadline.

We can make more complex sentences with "by," like:

"If my date doesn't arrive by 9 PM, I'm going home!" which means:
I'm going to wait for my date to arrive. If, at 9 PM, they have not arrived, I'm going home.
9 PM is the deadline.
"We told him to wake up by 6 AM," means:
The speaker(s) told another person that 6 AM was the wakeup deadline. Waking up before 6
AM would have been okay.
"You're not going to have that finished by the deadline, are you?" means:
The speaker doesn't think the listener is going to complete their task/action in the time
period.

We can see that "by" helps us express a deadline, or a point by which something must
happen.

Let's look at some sentences with mistakes, and try to fix them.

"I have to finish this report until 8 PM."

This is a present tense sentence that describes a deadline. We should use "by" here.
"I have to finish this report by 8 PM."

Let's look at another sentence.

"I'm not going to go to bed by I finish this movie."
In this sentence, we see two actions together, one of which marks a change. We should use
"until."
"I'm not going to go to bed until I finish this movie."

Here's one more:

"We have to be at the beach until 10 AM, otherwise it'll be crowded."
Be very careful with sentences like this. In some cases, mistakes with "by" or "until" can
cause a lot of confusion for the listener. This is one of those cases.
The correct sentence here is:
"We have to be at the beach by 10 AM, otherwise it'll be croweded."
This means that at 10 AM or earlier, the speaker wants to be at the beach. The speaker thinks

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that after 10 AM, the beach will be crowded.

The reason this sentence is confusing is because there is a small chance the speaker thinks
that at 10 AM, they should leave the beach.
To avoid confusion, you can choose a very clear verb and change the sentence slightly:
"We have to leave the beach by 10 AM."
"We have to stay at the beach until 10 AM."

See how the verb also helps show the change in action?
"Leave" marks a change, and we use "by" in the sentence.
"Stay" shows a continuing action, and we use "until."

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