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)

warning

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.

warning

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’.