Write the report until 5 pm.
Write the report by 5 pm. 

Write the report until 5 pm means “Start writing the report now, continue writing it until 5 pm, then stop writing it regardless of whether it is finished or not.”

Write the report by 5 pm means “Make sure that at 5 pm the report is written and finished”. This example makes more sense than the first one.

As a preposition of time by means on or before.
E.g. We will send you the documents by tomorrow.

• Use “by” when you refer to a deadline.

Until means up to a particular time.
E.g. We have until tomorrow to send out the documents.

• Use “until” when you refer to the period of time before a deadline.

By is used to describe an action or event that happens on or before a particular moment.
E.g. We expect to know the judgment by the end of June.

Until is used to describe a state or situation in the period of time up to a particular moment.
E.g. The court proceedings are expected to last until June.

You may think of until as referring to the moment a state or situation changes.
E.g. Comments on the draft may be submitted until March 2nd.

Here are some more examples:

1. I can do it by 3 pm.
             Now   → do it and finish it →  3 pm (it will be finished)
2. I can do it until 3 pm.
             Now   →       do it       →  3 pm (I’ll stop even if I haven’t finished)
3. I can’t do it by 3 pm.
             Now   → do it / not do it →  3 pm (either way it won’t be finished)
4. I can’t do it until 3 pm.
             Now   →  can’t do it  →  3 pm (I’ll start)

QUIZ

Fill in the sentences with by or until:

1. I need to do the laundry ______ 7pm.
2. They have ______ March 3rd to move out of their apartment.
3. We can play ________ he comes home.
4. My friends are supposed to come _______ next week.

ANSWERS

1. by
2. until
3. until
4. by

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First, let’s look at them separately:

Through

In North America, through means up to and including (a particular point in an ordered sequence), (from …) to … inclusive.

“They will be in town from March 1st through April 8th”

“The exhibition is open Friday through Sunday”

To/Until

These two sentences mean the same thing:

“We lived in Haiti from 2000 to 2009.”

“We lived in Haiti from 2000 until 2009.”

They both refer to a period of time that began at some point in the year 2000 (we don’t know exactly what point) and ended in the year 2009 (again, we don’t know at exactly what point in that year).

Some native speakers of English report that “from 2000 to 2009” sounds slightly more natural to them than “from 2000 until 2009,” so it might be a better choice if you are trying to choose between the two forms. However, both forms are correct and acceptable – there is no wrong choice.

Now, let’s look at the differences between them:

Through vs. To/Until

If you say “We lived in Haiti from 2000 through 2009,” this is different. “Through 2009” means until the end of that year. Therefore, “from 2000 through 2009” refers to a time period that began sometime in the year 2000 and lasted until the very end of 2009.

Take a look at these sentences:

I work here from 9 to 5.
I work here from 9 until/till 5.
I work here from 9 through 5.

The last one is not common because it’s a little ambiguous. Through generally means until the end of, which is not the intended meaning here. For example, if you were to say, “I’ll be working at this company through May,” it would mean until the end of May.

How about these sentences:

I work here from Monday to Friday.
I work here Monday through Friday. (note that “from” is absent here)
I work here from Monday until/till Friday.

“Monday to Friday” is very common. Until/till may signify you’re leaving work for some reason on Friday. For example, if you say, “I’ll be in Paris till Friday,” you’d be marking a departure date.

Sometimes through and until can be used together as in the following example:

“I struggle through until payday.” Through here means continuing in time toward completion of (a process or period).

Until marks a time limit that is not included in the activity we are talking about. In other words, “I struggle the whole time before payday, on payday I don’t struggle any longer”.

QUIZ

Fill in with the correct preposition:

1. The museum can be visited Tuesday __________ Sunday.
2. The Post Office is open from 8am __________ 5pm.
3. I ate ____________ my lunch break.
4. I am free from 3pm ___________ 5pm.

ANSWERS

1. through; 2. to or until/till; 3. through; 4. to or until/till

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In English, there is Regular (12-hour) Time and Military (24-hour) Time.

REGULAR (12-hour) TIME  is used by most people in everyday talk.

O’CLOCK

If you want to express the exact hour, use “o’clock”. For example, “It’s one o’clock” (1:00). Or “It’s four o’clock” (4:00).  You can only say “o’clock” at the exact hour.

If you want to emphasize the exact hour, add the word “sharp“. For example, “It’s eight o’clock sharp” (8:00). Or “You need to be there at five o’clock sharp” (5:00).

PAST and TO

There are 60 minutes in an hour. With minutes 1 – 29, use past (or after) the hour. For example, “It’s ten past three”, or 3:10. Or, “It’s twenty after eight”, 8:20.

With minutes 31 – 59, use to and the next hour. For example, when it’s 10:40, say “It’s twenty to eleven” (Eleven minus twenty minutes). Or when it’s 3:50, we say “It’s ten to four” (Four minus ten minutes). It’s always correct to say “It’s three fifty” (3:50). But many times, you will hear people say “It’s ten to four”.

QUARTER and HALF

Instead of 15 minutes, you can say “a quarter” and instead of 30 minutes, you can say “a half“.

At minute 15, say it’s “a quarter past” or “a quarter after”. So, when it’s 7:15, say it’s “a quarter past seven”.

At minute 45, say it’s “a quarter to” the next hour. For example, at 5:45, say it’s “a quarter to six” (or 15 minutes before 6:00).

At minute 30, say it’s “half past” or “and a half“. So at 9:30, you can say it’s “half past nine” or “nine and a half” (half an hour after 9:00).

You cannot use to with half.

As mentioned before, it’s okay to say “It’s seven fifteen” (7:15), “It’s five forty-five” (5:45) or “It’s three thirty” (3:30). But you will definitely hear people say “It’s quarter past seven”, “It’s a quarter to six” or “It’s half past three”.

AM, PM and IN THE MORNING, IN THE AFTERNOON, AT NIGHT

There are 24 hours in a day. For hours 0 through 12, say “A.M.”. So for hour 7 (in the morning), say “It’s seven A.M.” (7:00 A.M.). For hours 12 to 24, say “P.M.”. So for example, at hour 14, say “It’s two P.M.”

Instead of A.M., you can say “in the morning“. For example, “It’s six o’clock in the morning” or “It’s 6 A.M.“.

Instead of P.M., you can say:

• “in the afternoon” from 12 P.M. until 5 P.M. For example, “It’s three in the afternoon” or “It’s 3 P.M.”
• “in the evening” from 6 P.M. until 8 P.M. For example, “It’s seven in the evening” or “It’s 7 P.M.”
• “at night” from 8 P.M. until 12 A.M. For example, “It’s nine o’clock at night” or “It’s 9 P.M.”

Noon, Midday, Midnight

At hour 12, say it’s “noon”. You also sometimes hear people say “midday”. At hour 24, say it’s “midnight”.

“Noon” is 12:00 P.M. And “midnight” is 12:00 A.M. (The start of a new day or 24 hour cycle.)

QUESTION and ANSWER

How do you ask someone about the time? You say: “What time is it?”

The answer always starts with “It’s“, such as “It’s half past three in the afternoon.”

When you answer, always add A.M., P.M., in the morning, in the afternoon or at night to the time for clarity.

MILITARY TIME exists, but is rarely used in everyday speech.

With this method of counting the hours in the day you start with 00:00 at midnight (12:00 a.m.) and count up from there until 23:59 for 11:59 p.m.

You will also say this differently, so for 23:00, you would say “twenty three o’hundred.” Or, for 15:00 and 15:50 you would say “You need to report to the office at fifteen hundred hours today. After that you can leave at seventeen o’fifty.” Note that you do not say “A.M.”, “P.M.”, “in the morning”, “in the evening” or “at night” for military time.

A quick and fun way to convert military time into regular time or vice-versa is to subtract or add 12.

For example, 17:00 in regular time is 17-12 = 5 P.M.

And 9 P.M. in military time is 9+12 = 21:00.

QUIZ

A. Say the following times in all the possible ways:

1. 3:45 A.M.
2. 6:15 P.M.
3. 8:30 P.M.

B. What is the regular time?

1. 13:00
2. 19:00
3. 22:00

C. How else can you say:

1. 12 P.M.
2. 12 A.M.

ANSWERS

A.

1. It’s three forty-five A.M.; It’s three forty-five in the morning; It’s fifteen (minutes) to 4 A.M.; It’s a quarter to 4 in the morning.
2. It’s six fifteen P.M.; It’s six fifteen in the evening; It’s fifteen minutes past 6 P.M.; It’s a quarter past 6 in the evening.
3. It’s eight thirty P.M.; It’s eight thirty at night; It’s eight and a half P.M.; It’s half past 8 at night.

B.

1. 1 P.M.
2. 7 P.M.
3. 10 P.M.

C.

1. noon or midday
2. midnight

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