Using English Prepositions - Lesson 7: From, To, Till, Until - Part 1 (time)

Prepositions of time help us talk about daily routines

and weekly schedules.

I'd like you to listen as I ask my son

about his school schedule.

Listen for the starting and ending times of his school day.

When you go to school, do you know

that you're in school for about six hours?

Do you know that?

Well, the hours really go by.

I'm glad they go by fast.

So when are you in school? School starts at...

8:45

And it goes to...

um, 2:45.

So from 8:45 to 2:45

you're in school.

Which months are you in school?

From September all the way to June.

So my son starts school at...

8:45.

And what time does school end?

2:45.

The quick way to say that is from 8:45 to 2:45.

We use the prepositions FROM and TO to mark a range.

A starting point and an ending point.

We could also use FROM...UNTIL.

Perhaps it's a little less common,

but it's also possible and you'll hear it.

For example, my children are in school

from the beginning of September until the middle of June.

From...until. From..to.

These prepositions mark a range.

And we can be talking about

short or long periods of time.

My son said, "From September all the way to June."

He was emphasizing the long period of time.

You'll also hear the phrase "from beginning to end."

Which means the whole time of some event.

FROM...TO... doesn't always define a specific range of time.

Remember you may also hear FROM...UNTIL.

The preposition TO can be used alone

to mark how much time is left

before some point or before some event.

When we're telling the time of day,

we can say 2:45

or quarter to three.

Listen. It's quarter to three.

Another way we can say that is with the preposition TILL.

It's quarter till three. It's quarter till.

So TO and TILL can be used the same way.

TILL is a short form of UNTIL.

They're basically the same word.

Some feel that TILL is used more in spoken English,

so perhaps it's less formal.

But again they mean the same thing.

In other situations you have a choice.

You can use TO, TILL, UNTIL.

For example, right now it's the beginning of October.

At the end of this month, we have a holiday.

My children are looking forward to Halloween.

For more weeks to Halloween!

All three ways are fine.