Hi, everybody. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. In today's video we're going to look
at the prepositions: "by" and "until". We're going to look at the differences between
them, and how to use them, and what specific meanings they each have. We're also going to look at the expression:
"by the time", as another way of using "by" or whatever situation, and
this one: "no ________ than". Now, the reason why I left this blank is because
you can actually put quite a few words in there. We're going to look specifically at: "no later
than" to replace "by" and "until", but for now I want you to also understand that there's
other uses for it, and I'll give you some examples of those. Now, before I start I will say Emma did a
very good lesson about "by" and "until". Mine is a little bit different because I'm
going to show you some other situations where you will use one or the other. Okay? So we're going to start by figuring out:
What's the difference between these two? So look at our
example sentences. I'll get to our little
time map in a second. "I'll be at the office until noon.",
"I'll be at the office by noon." Now, first of all, let's assume
the average workday is about... Is from 9 until about 5
o'clock, but I have some... I have some meetings in the afternoon
so I will have to leave the office. But if you want to meet with
me, I'll be there until noon. What does that mean? It means that I will arrive at the office at the
usual time, 9 o'clock, and I will stay there. So my stay at the office
will continue until noon. At noon I will leave. Okay? So this is when
we're using "until". Now, before I get in... Into that again, let's
look at the second one. "I'll be at the office by noon." So, here, we're looking at somewhere in this
time, but not later than noon I will arrive at the office. Okay? Now, what's the key
difference between these two? Well, one, something continues. An action starts, continues, and it ends
at that time mentioned after "until". So both of them
have an end time. You could even say a deadline,
but that's for other uses. There's an end time. And that end time is noon. Okay? Something will
happen at noon. Now, in the case of "by",
it could happen before. In the case of "until",
only one thing will happen. But the key to remember: When we use
"by", we're looking at a finite action. This arrive is a one-time thing.
Right? It'll... It can happen here, it could
happen here, it could even happen here. With "until" only
here will I leave. Okay? Now, what's the difference, another
difference that we have to think about? Is not only the continuance of an action
and the finite situation of an action; here, we're looking
at something ending. My time at the office will end. Here, something
can end or start. So if you want to meet me, I'll be in
the office by noon, so you can meet me from noon until 5. So the start time, the earliest
time you can meet me is noon. The latest time you can meet me is just before
noon because I'm leaving at noon. Right? So that's one thing
to keep in mind. The... Basically the
implied situation. Now: "I'll be at the office by
noon and I'll stay until 5." You can use both of
them in one sentence. Sometime in here I'll arrive, and then
from 12 till 5, I'll be at the office. So, what's the key? Now I hope you
basically notice this. What's the key difference in these two
sentences, is it the preposition? Yes. Different prepositions,
different meanings. But what I hope you realize is that
the difference is in the verb "be". Why? What does "be" mean here, and
what does "be" mean here? "Be... I'll be at
the office until... Until noon", means I will stay
at the office until noon. So this situation will continue. Here, "be" means arrive. "I will arrive at the
office by noon." So, one point here
in this time... Timeframe I guess you could
call it, something will happen. Continued, finite. "Finite" means it's a one-time
action and that's it, it's finished. So that's a very important
thing to remember with "by". Okay? "By", and we also think about:
"at", "on", or "before". So, "at" for time. This is a little review
of prepositions. "At 5 o'clock", "on
Friday", "on day", so: "At 5 o'clock or before.",
"At noon or before.", "On Friday or before." Okay? "Until"... Now, we don't use this preposition "to",
but something continues to the end time. Okay? So that's one way... Another way of thinking about
these two in terms of: What's the difference? "By" or "before" continue "to". Okay? We're going to look at a few more samples,
and you'll get a better idea of when to use "by", when to use "until". Okay, so let's look at some more examples and
I want to come back to this idea of finite actions. Okay? "Finish" is a finite action. Now, just to clarify, again:
What does "finite" mean? It means it's a
very limited time. It doesn't go on
for a long time. So if you're going to finish your homework, it
means last question answered, done, finished. You can't be finishing for a long time because
the verb "finish" doesn't extend; it's done or it's not done. Right? So: "I'll finish my
homework until 5." Now, a lot of people will say this, they will
write this, but technically it's not correct. "I'll finish my homework by 5." is okay because
it's a one-time situation and it'll happen at 5 or before, at some
point in that time. So, how would you fix
the first sentence? Two ways. One: "I'll finish
my homework at 5." That's one way. If you know you're going to be
done at 5 you can say that. But the better thing to do is to change
the verb, make it a non-finite verb. "I'll work on my
homework until 5." Means work, work, work, time goes on, work, work,
work, time goes on, 5 o'clock, okay, I'm done. Finished, not finished,
not important. If you finished, great. If you didn't finish,
that's fine. 5 o'clock is your end time, then you will
finish later if you didn't finish by 5. Okay. Now, another thing to keep in mind: We can
use both prepositions with any tense. You can talk about the past,
you can talk about the future. But when we're using perfect tenses,
we use the "by" preposition. Let's look at examples. "I'll have completed my
tasks by 5 o'clock." "Will have completed", this
is your future perfect. The future perfect often
makes use of "by". Okay? We can also talk
about the past perfect. Now, here, I'm starting to
introduce: "By the time". "By the time" has the exact same use or the
exact same function as "by", except that now instead of saying: "By 5 o'clock",
"By Tuesday", "By next year", I'm giving you a
more general time. And then I'm
identifying that time. Right? So I can be more generic... General. I can say anything. "By the time we're through", I don't have
to give you a specific time, I can give you a specific situation. "By the time he arrived", so now the
time is when this action happened. What time of the day? I don't know. Not important. "By the time he arrived", so I have my adjective
clause to identify the time, and then I have my next clause: "She
had already left." So, because at this
time he arrived... "By this time" means at
this time or before. Right? So if it happened before, I must use the past
perfect to show the relationship in time. Okay? By the time he arrived,
she had already left. "I'll have completed my
tasks by 5 o'clock." So 5 o'clock, they're done. Okay. Let's look at "until" just to show you there
could be past, or present, future, etc. "She waited in the lobby
until he arrived." So she waited, waited,
waited, waited, waited. Oh, there he is. So, again, you don't have
to use a specific time. You can use an actual
clause, and then there... This is therefore a clause marker, an
adverb clause marker, subordinate clause. "Until he arrives, she..." "She can", this is an "n". "...she can wait in the lobby. Until he arrives, she can..."
so we have a present. "Until he arrives," keep in mind this is
still an adverb clause now we're looking at. You can't use "by" as a clause marker,
as an adverb clause, but you can use: "By the time" with an adjective clause
or "until" with an adverb clause. "Until he arrives, she
will wait in the lobby." Present simple, future. Again, think about when. When he arrives, she will have been
waiting in the thing for five hours. You can also use the perfect with "until", but
then you have to specify the time period. When you're using perfect, go
with the "by", more common. Use "until" as an adverb
clause conjunction. That's another big difference
between these two. "By" always a preposition. "Until" can be a preposition or a conjunction
for an adverb clause, so that's important to understand as well. So now we're going to look at expressions that
we can use to replace these in case we're ever not sure. Okay? Okay, so let's do a little bit of review
before we look at some other expressions. Before I want to do anything else,
actually, I want to mention "until". You might notice in many situations people
using the word "till" or sometimes they'll use like an
abbreviation: "'til". "Till" is a little more common, "'til" is
a bit more common in American English. Personally, there's only one letter difference, like
one, two, three, four; one, two, three, four, five. Just write "until". If you're not sure, use
"until" in your writing. In spoken English: "till",
"'til", both okay. In written English
go with "until". Now, let's review
this: "By the time". We use "by the time" plus an adjective
clause to identify which time. So we can have two options. I can say: "By the end of the lesson...",
like let's say we're having a lesson now, so: "By the end of this lesson, you
will have learned about 'by', 'until'." Or: "By the time"-which time?-"that we are done,
you will have learned about 'by' and 'until'." So, there are two
ways to use "by". The thing to remember is when you use: "By
the time", make sure to identify which time. If you have a specific time... "End of the lesson" means this particular
time when the lesson is finished, and then go on with your next clause saying what
will have happened then or before. Maybe you already understand "by" and
"until", in which case, good stuff. Now, another thing I want to
look at: "I'll be done by 7.", "I'll be done no later than 7." What's the difference
in these two meanings? Nothing. We can use: "no later than"
as a replacement for "by". Now, why am I showing you this? If you're ever in a situation where you're
writing and you're not exactly sure if you should use "by" or "until", and you don't
want to make a mistake, maybe on a test or whatever the situation,
here's another option. "No later than" means this is the absolute
latest time, so this time or before. It basically means the
same thing as "by". Okay? And again, I'm still using a
finite verb in this case. "When are you working until?" So I'm asking: When is the...? When are you ending your work? "7 at the latest." This is another expression, but be
careful with it because some people say: "Oh, I'm working until
7 at the latest.", "Until 7" means 7 is the
latest, so "at the latest" becomes redundant. If you're going to use this
expression, don't use "until". If you're going to use "until",
don't use this added expression. And: "I'll be there..." Now, we can go the opposite way. We can talk about earlier:
"no earlier than". So: "no later than" means end time; "no
earlier than" means beginning time. Do you remember that graph we looked at before
when I said "by" could be an end or a start? Well, that's where we have this. The key to remember is that when we turn it
around to use "by" or "until", then we're going to basically go with the opposite
verb, like negative or positive. "I'll be there no earlier than
noon.", "I won't be there by noon.", "I won't be there until noon." So "by noon" means noon or
before I won't show up. "I won't be there until noon." At noon I will
arrive and continue. Okay? So the "won't be" will
continue until noon. The "won't be" will continue... Will be from noon or before. And again, different meaning to the verb "be", but
you can use: "no earlier than", "no later than". You can also use these. These are basically minimizers
and maximizers, this expression. "No later than", maximum. "No earlier than", minimum
in terms of time. You can use other expressions, you can use:
"No sooner than", basically means the same as earlier. You can say: "No more than", means a
maximum amount or a maximum number. "No less than" or "no fewer
than" means a minimum. So, these are good to have for time, but just so
you understand, they're applicable to basically everything; numbers, quantities,
time, situations, etc. So, I hope that all of this helped you understand
how to use "by", "until", "by the time", and "no later than". I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Please subscribe to my
YouTube channel if you did. If you have any questions, please go to www.engvid.com,
join the forum and ask me the questions you have. I'll be happy to try
to answer them. There's also... There's also a quiz
at www.engvid.com. Take the quiz, make sure you understand which one
of these expressions to use based on the context. And, of course, come back
again soon, see us again, we'll have more great lessons
for you, and I'll see ya then. Bye.
