More time words
As noted in How to make the most of coaching, it’s always useful when students asking for help tell me their deadlines. But sometimes they get more than they bargained for:
If you have time today until about 9 p.m. could you please correct it?
Will it be possible to receive it back from you until Thursday, Dec. 13?
Instead of until, both students meant before or by. (Yes, I edit e-mail.) What’s the difference?
Until means the entire time up to a particular point. So if you ask if I can look at your work until Dec. 13 — well, it’s April, and you’re asking for an awful lot of time. If, on the other hand, you ask me to do it before or by (up to and including) that time, you’re asking if I can do it at any point in advance of your deadline. So:
If you have time today until before about 9 p.m. could you please correct it?
Will it be possible to receive it back from you until by Thursday, Dec. 13?
Today, a Tow-Knight fellow wrote: I have to complete an article within tomorrow. She meant by; within means inside. You can do something within a span of time, as in I have to finish it within a day, but not “within tomorrow.” Or she could have just said: I have to complete an article tomorrow.
Another told me, “I have to apply on May 20.” She, too, meant by. On May 20 means she can apply on that day only, not that it’s the deadline.
Jo Bruni got it right when she wrote:
Gregory Spock, 34, a real estate broker in Queens, said millennials have paid off a good part of their student debt by the time they come to him looking for a home in New York.
Other time words — specifically as and since — cause confusion because they don’t always refer to time. Last fall I found myself explaining the same point to the third student in one day (and the fourth in two):
The school has had to move several times as it does not have a permanent space of its own.
Thankfully, she is slowly understanding them now as her grandparents tend to use simple words while communicating with her.
Vision Zero, the city Department of Transportation’s initiative to reduce traffic deaths to zero, considers these corridors a priority since 61 pedestrians and 34 cyclists were injured from 2012 to 2016.
These writers were using as and since in their other meaning: because. When as, since or for (a rather old-fashioned usage) means because, it needs to be preceded by a comma. So:
The school has had to move several times, as it does not have a permanent space of its own.
Thankfully, she is slowly understanding them now, as her grandparents tend to use simple words while communicating with her.
Vision Zero, the city Department of Transportation’s initiative to reduce traffic deaths to zero, considers these corridors a priority, since 61 pedestrians and 34 cyclists were injured from 2012 to 2016.
Jo Bruni was right again:
Watch Wednesday to see whether growth in wage rates has caught up with housing inflation rates, as it may make the rising cost of shelter more manageable to consumers.
And Kate Panova got it right the first time, and the second, and the third, quoting a source:
“There was no way to tell to my family where I was, as my wife’s and mother’s cell numbers, which I knew by heart, did not respond.”
“I needed to contact my family, as I was very worried about them.”
And:
“My wife could not contact me since I was taken away from my home.” No comma, since here since meant because. (Though I would correct the tense to had not been able to contact me.)
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