 by or until? Do you know the difference? Well, let's find out in this video because first I'm going to briefly explain it to you but then I'm going to quiz your knowledge, okay? So you're going to have to complete sentences using by or until and don't worry, I'm going to be there every step of the way to make sure you understand the difference. Of course, I'm Jennifer from jforist English.com and this channel is dedicated to helping you sound like a fluent, confident, natural English speaker. Now before we go any further, make sure you subscribe and hit that bell notification so you're notified every time I post a new video. Now let's dive in with this lesson. It's Q&A Friday and this is an email that I got from one of my students, Susie and Susie wanted to know when to use these and I actually see a lot of mistakes with by and until. So this is such a great question, Susie. Thanks for emailing it to me and I'm going to make sure by the end of this lesson, by the end of this lesson, you're going to know how to use by and until. So first, let's briefly just talk about the difference. Let's start with until. We use until to talk about an action, a state or a situation that continues up to a point, okay? And that point is when that action ends or changes and we use that point, we use until to describe it until and then a time reference. I'll give you a very easy example. I work until five. Now here, the situation is me working, right? And that situation continues, continues up to a point and that point is five o'clock, right? That's the situation continues until five. So at five o'clock, this situation ends and maybe a new situation begins. We don't really know. We're not going to talk about what happens after five o'clock. I work until five. Now let's talk about by. By is very different. By is used as a deadline, okay? So in terms of by, something happens on or before that time reference and that's important to keep in mind that it can definitely be before but it can also be on that exact time, okay? So as an example, I could say submit your application by five o'clock. Now in this case, you have until five o'clock to submit your application. Notice how I just use until. Why is that? Because you can work on your application. That can be your continuing time reference up to a point, okay? So I'm working on my application until five. I can work, it's possible for me to work on my application until five, okay? But I have to submit it by five. So five o'clock, that's my deadline. So I need to complete an action and that action is submit my application. I can do it at five o'clock, right? I can do it at four o'clock. I can do it at three o'clock. I can do it at two o'clock. I can do it before but I cannot do it at five o'one or five thirty or six o'clock because I have to submit it by five. So just remember that until is for a continuing situation up to a point and by is for a deadline that's going to happen on or before that point. All right, so now let's do a little quiz. I'm going to test your knowledge. So I want you to put in the comments below your answer. Is it by or until? So you can put one by, one until, whatever your choice is, okay? Make sure you put your answer in the comments. Sentence one, I'm staying at our house Friday. Is it by or until? Put it in the comments. I'm staying at our house until Friday. Did you get it? Okay, remember continuing situation. I'm at her house right now. I'm going to be at our house. That situation is going to continue up to a point. That point is Friday. I'm staying at our house until Friday. Sentence two, I need to talk to you the end of the weekend. By or until? Put your answer in the comments. I need to talk to you by the end of the weekend. So today is Friday. The end of the weekend is Sunday night. So I have until the end of the weekend for this action to take place. I can talk to you Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, Sunday night, but I can't talk to you on Monday because the deadline is over. Sentence three, you have to return the car noon. By or until? Positive if you need. Put your answer in the comments. You have to return the car by noon. This is a deadline. I'm telling you that noon is the latest you can return the car. You can return it at 10, 11, 1130, 1159 noon, but not 1201. I'm going to charge you an extra day if you return that car at 1201. Did you get that one? Sentence four, I was looking for my keys midnight. By or until? Pause the video, put your answer in the comments. I was looking for my keys until midnight. So just imagine I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking, it's 1030 and I'm looking, I'm still looking at 11, still looking at 1130, still looking at 1145 and until midnight. So midnight, I find my keys. So I stop looking. That action takes place up to that point. That point is midnight. Final sentence. She'll be here. Three. Bye. Until pause the video, put your answer in the comments. Did you get this one? Well, this is a trick question because you could say she'll be here until three. She'll be here by three. Both of them would be grammatically correct. This can happen a lot in this situation with by or until, but you have to understand that the meaning is different. So pause the video and really think about it. How are these sentences different? Well, we have she'll be here until three. So let's say it's two o'clock right now, okay? And the person is there. We'll say there is at the office. The person is at the office and she's going to be at the office at 215, 230, 245, 3. So that's the time reference that she's at the office. She's there. That situation continues up to a point. That point is three. So if you get to the office at 305 and you're like, where is she? Well, she's gone because she was there until three and then she left. The action changed. That situation no longer continues. Now, if I say she'll be there by three, let me ask you, is she there right now? No, she's not because she has a deadline. Three o'clock is the deadline. She has to be at the office by three o'clock, but right now she's shopping, okay? She's not at the office. Now she can get to the office at 215, 230, 245, 3 o'clock, but 305, too late. Her chance is over. The office is closed because she had the deadline of three o'clock. She'll be here by three. So notice here grammatically both can be used, but the meaning is very different. Now the best way to get comfortable with the difference between by and until is to practice it on your own. So create three sentences using by, three sentences using an until, and try at least one sentence where you could use both until and by, but of course the meaning is going to be different. And put those in the comments. All right, so now you feel really confident using by and until, right? If you found this video helpful, please hit the like button, share it with your friends, and of course, subscribe. Now before you go, make sure you head on over to my website, J4isEnglish.com, and download your free speaking guide. In this guide, I share six tips on how to speak English fluently and confidently. And until next time, happy studying. All right, I told you you'd know how to use these by the end of the video, and now you do awesome job, but don't stop there. Check out this video. Don't forget about this video, and don't forget to subscribe, and until next time.