How do you start a sentence with until?
"Until" is more often used in the middle of a sentence, but it can be used at the beginning. Until she knows what she wants to do, it will be hard for her to find a job that she likes. Until the weather gets warmer, it is not a good idea to go on a picnic. Until the rain stops, the game cannot start.
Example Sentences
Conjunction We played until it got dark. Keep going until I tell you to stop. I ran until I was breathless. Stay here until the danger has passed.
Until indicates when something will happen, begin, or end. Till means the same thing as until. Till is not an abbreviation of until—it's actually older than until—and it should not be written with an apostrophe.
Yeah, we can start a sentence with a conjunction. There's nothing wrong in it. Until I come back, no one will move. Until we don't get what we want, we will keep protesting.
Conditional clauses are adverbial clauses (for example, beginning with 'if', 'unless' or 'until'). They should also have a comma after them if they start the sentence.
(NOTE: Subordinate clauses begin with words such as after, although, as, because, before, even if, even though, if, since, so that, unless, until, when, whenever, whereas, while, etc.
1 I've always been perfectly healthy until now. 2 It has taken until now to pin down its exact location. 3 Until now, the government has only enforced the ban with regard to American ships. 4 Until now I've always credited you with more sense.
| Time word | Time clause tense | Main clause tense |
|---|---|---|
| Until | Simple past | Past perfect |
| As soon as | Simple present | Simple future |
| Simple past | Simple past | |
| Whenever | Simple present | Simple present |
Complex sentences are easy to spot as they often use subordinating conjunctions like because, since, or until to connect clauses.
From is often used with until or till to say when something finishes and ends. The ticket office will be open from 10.00am until 1.00pm. They worked from dawn till dusk. In sentences like these, you can use to instead of `until' or `till'.
How do you use until as an adverb?
We can use until or before when a situation continues to happen up to a time indicated in the adverbial clause: Fernando has to wait three weeks until/before his parcel arrived from the USA.
I can't refund you your money until and unless you send me original receipts. I can't start work on this project unless and until the plans are approved. Note that present tenses are used with both until and unless to indicate future time.
We had never considered that perspective until now. They can be used at the beginning of a sentence to introduce a new statement. The comma after these introductory phrases is optional.
The phrase Until recently at the beginning of a sentence should not require a comma. The rule is that a short prepositional phrase of time or place does not require a comma. That works just fine in the first sentence. It is clear than Until recently sets up the timeframe for the entire sentence.
Until and till are both standard, but what might be surprising is that till is the older word. 'Til, with one L, is an informal and poetic shortening of until.
'Until' is a subordinating conjunction that connects an action to a point in time.
You use until with a negative to emphasize the moment in time after which the rest of your statement becomes true, or the condition which would make it true.
Until—means "up to the time that": Don't do anything until I come back. She didn't know she was a talented singer until she sang in the school concert. They won't allow us to start until everyone arrives.
- as yet.
- thus far.
- to date.
- up to now.
- so far.
- still.
- hitherto.
We can use past simple negative + until + past perfect to talk about an action that didn't happen before something else happened first. The party couldn't start until Kate had arrived. (Kate arrived, and then the party could start.)
What is the preposition up until?
Up until or up to are used to indicate the latest time at which something can happen, or the end of the period of time that you are referring to. Please feel free to call me any time up until half past nine at night.
The word 'until' is used in formal notices/letters or any other form of writing, whereas the word 'till' has a more casual tone to it.
Not until [the rain stopped] [could we see the view of the ocean]. Not until [the president resigned] [did the protests stop]. Not until [my daughter called me] [did I stop worrying about her].
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English not untilused to emphasize that something does not happen before a certain point in time or before something else has happened 'Can I go out and play now? ' 'Not until you've done your homework. ' It was not until 1972 that the war finally came to an end.
Until, till, and 'til all mean the same thing. The informal contraction 'til is a shortening of until that's typically only used in informal contexts. The word till is a separate word altogether—it's actually older than until.