Using English Prepositions - Lesson 7: To, Till, Until, Through - Part 2 (time)

We've been talking about the prepositions TO, TILL, and UNTIL.

Listen for prepositions of time

as I talk with my daughter about her bedtime.

(No making me laugh.)

We're going to be serious because I have a question.

When is your bedtime.

9:00

It is 9:00.

Do you fall asleep at 9:00 or shortly after?

Not until 9:30.

Yeah. It takes you a while. It takes me a while, too.

So you don't fall asleep until about 9:30.

Or so.

What's the latest you've ever stayed up to?

Um...around 12.

You've stayed up until midnight?

Somehow I don't remember. You stayed up until midnight?

Yeah. - Oh boy.

Maybe it was New Year's Eve.

Did you listen?

What does UNTIL mean?

So my daughter has stayed up to midnight at lest once.

We could also say...

You'll also hear "not until." The negative.

For example, she goes to sleep around 9, but...

Listen again.

Now you'll hear us talk about studying a foreign language at school.

Okay. First, an easy question.

What grade are you in?

Third.

And do you know when you begin to study a foreign language at school?

Um...I think seventh grade.

I think you're right. It's the seventh grade.

And I think your choices will probably be French, Spanish, or German.

Do you have any idea what you'll choose?

Maybe French.

Maybe. You have lots of time to decide.

So you'll...you will study a foreign language from seventh grade all the way through twelfth.

How many years is that?

Five. - Five years of foreign language study.

I wish it were twelve, but you get five.

Why twelve?

Well, more time, you get more knowledge, and you're more fluent.

But five is okay.

It's better than nothing.

As you heard, they teach foreign languages in our school district,

but not until the seventh grade.

We could also say it's not until after the sixth grade

that children begin...to start studying foreign languages.

I wish it were earlier.

You also heard me say from the seventh grade through twelfth.

Not from...to, not from...until.

But from...through.

Sometimes we use the preposition THROUGH

to clarify...to specify what that ending point really is.

So children begin studying foreign languages here in seventh grade

and they continue all the way till the end of twelfth grade.

From seventh through twelfth.

It's another way to mark that range.

THROUGH by itself means...

The crying continued during the night.

The sleeping continued during the meeting.

We use ALL and RIGHT just for emphasis.

Let's review all the prepositions of time

that we've talked about by doing an exercise.

The vacation ended on the 21st,

so he was home by the 22nd.

"Through the weekend" means the whole weekend,

until it was over.

"Not until noon" or "not till noon"

means not before that time.

So they were together after 12:00 p.m.

If there are two days to the wedding,

there are two days left.

So they'll be married after 48 hours.

That's all for now.

Thanks for watching. Happy studies!