Until

Until is a preposition and a conjunction. Until is often shortened to till or ’til. Till and ’til are more informal and we don’t usually use them in formal writing.

Until as a preposition

Until as a preposition means ‘up to (the time that)’:

We played chess until midnight. (up to midnight)

The film didn’t end till eleven o’clock.

We use from with until or till to talk about when something begins and when it ends:

I worked out at the gym from 6 pm till 7.30 pm.

The road outside our house will be closed from 6 am until 6 pm tomorrow.

We use by, not until, to talk about something that will happen before a particular time or deadline:

The movie will be finished by 9 pm.

Not: The movie will be finished until/till 9 pm.

We don’t use until or till to talk about quantity or numbers. We use up to:

The taxi can take up to five people.

Not: The taxi can take until five people.

We don’t use until or till to talk about distance. We use as far as:

Larry drove me as far as the shop and I walked the rest of the way home.

Not: Larry drove me until the shop …

Until as a conjunction

We use until as a subordinating conjunction to connect an action or an event to a point in time:

Let’s wait here till the rain stops. (till + subordinate clause)

We don’t normally put the until-clause before the main clause:

No one left the room until the talk ended.

Not: Until the talk ended no one left …

We use present verb forms to refer to the future after until:

I can’t wait until the summer holidays begin.

Not: … until the summer holidays will begin.

We also use the present perfect after until to refer to actions or events that will continue up to a point in the future:

We’ll sit here till Donna has finished.

Not: … until Donna will have finished.

We use the past simple and past perfect to talk about events in the past:

He was the headteacher until he retired in 1968.

We couldn’t put down the new floor till the plumber had finished.

We can’t use until or till to mean ‘in advance of’. In this case we use before:

Please return your registration form before you leave the room.

Not: Please return your registration form until you leave the room.

Until: typical errors

We don’t use until to talk about things that will happen before a particular time or deadline; we use by:

All applications must be received by Friday, 26 June 2009.

Not: … until Friday, 26 June 2009.

We don’t use until or till to talk about quantity; we use up to:

The theatre can hold up to two hundred people.

Not: The theatre can hold until two hundred people.

We don’t use until or till to talk about distance; we use as far as:

We had to drive as far as Liverpool for the last hockey match that I played.

Not: We had to drive until Liverpool …

Take care to spell until with only one l at the end: not ‘untill’.

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