Prepositions of Time: Deadlines, Duration and Timing
At B2, the challenge is not naming time. It is showing whether an action continues, finishes before a deadline, fills a period or prevents a problem.
Understand · You say · Check
A clear route through the lesson
Keep this lesson short: use the two 20-second pauses while doing the guided practice. By sets the latest acceptable time; until describes continuation up to an end point.
Read the explanations, answer aloud at each You say pause, then reveal the model and check one point. A model is one possible answer. Finish with the 8-question understanding check.
Keep the learner’s speaking time. At each You say pause, use the suggested follow-up and one correction focus. Finish with the 8-question understanding check.
What you will be able to do
Start with the meaning
Is Friday the deadline, or does the action continue until Friday? Predict each answer, then open the explanation.
1. Please send the revised proposal by Friday. Can it arrive on Thursday?
Yes. By Friday means no later than Friday. Thursday is before the deadline.
2. We kept the offer open until Friday. Was it open throughout Thursday?
Yes. Until Friday describes a situation continuing up to that end point.
The essential distinctions
By marks a deadline
Use by for the latest acceptable time. The action can happen earlier. Use until when an action or state continues up to an end point.
Finish it by six. · I will be working until six.For measures, during locates
Use for with a length of time. Use during with an event or named period. Use while before a clause.
We spoke for an hour · during the meeting · while we were waiting.In and within set different limits
In two hours can mean after two hours or the time needed. Within two hours means no later than the end of that period.
I will call you in two hours. · Reply within two hours.One deadline, one continuing activity
Before 5 p.m.
You may send the file early.
5 p.m.
Send the file by this deadline.
Continuing to 5 p.m.
The office stays open until then.
Within two hours means no later than the end of that two-hour period. It includes earlier completion.
See the contrast
| Choice | Meaning test | Example |
|---|---|---|
| by | no later than | Submit the form by 5 p.m. |
| until | continues up to | The office stays open until 5 p.m. |
| for | how long? | She worked there for six months. |
| during | inside which event or period? | No phones during the interview. |
| on time | at the scheduled time | The train left on time. |
| in time | early enough to prevent a problem | We arrived in time to board. |
A three-step decision tool
Three traps to avoid
Guided practice
Say your answer aloud before opening the explanation.
1. The application must reach us ___ 30 September.
by, because 30 September is the final acceptable date.
2. The roads were quiet ___ the public holiday.
during, because the public holiday is a named period.
3. We waited ___ the rain had stopped.
until, because the waiting continued to that end point.
4. Please report any damage ___ 24 hours.
within, because the report must happen before the 24-hour limit expires.
Optional extension: develop a longer answer
Make it yours
Describe one real deadline and one situation that continued to a particular time. Then explain a moment when you arrived just early enough.
I need to finish … by …I kept … until …I arrived in time to …Final check
Check your understanding
Choose one answer for each question. Read the context carefully: a question may ask for a particular form, meaning or register. The explanations show why that answer fits.
0 of 8 questions answered