Hi everyone! I'm Arnel, and today we're gonna look at some of the most confusing time expressions
in English. We have: On time or in time. At the beginning or in the beginning. Kill
time or waste time. Recently or lately. Eventually or finally. Before or ago.
And finally, until or by. And at the end of this lesson I have a test for you.
Let me know in the comments how well you do. And give me some suggestions,
are there any other confusing time expressions you want an explanation for? On time or in time.
I have two lines but let's start with on time. We are focused on a specific time something
happens. We usually use this phrase at the end of a sentence. I hope our train leaves on time.
This could be 6 15. If our train doesn't leave on time, we could miss our connecting train.
The electrician said he would be here at 12 o'clock.
He's right on time. And when we use on time, it doesn't have to be with a clock time. It can also
be a date, like on a calendar. Students must submit their applications on time. Late applications
will not be accepted. So when you use on time I want you to think about: appointments, meetings,
transportation schedules, lessons. Anything where a clock or calendar is involved.
And here's a little, tip the o in on time looks like a clock, so you can't confuse it with in time.
When do we use in time? Before it's too late. And we aren't focused on the specific time, we're more
focused on the event. Let the grammar help you. We normally say, in time to, plus verb. Or, in time for, plus
noun. I usually work late, but I always arrive home in time to put my kids to bed. Before it's too late.
I don't know if I'll get everything done in time for the wedding.
Sorry, I can't join you for breakfast. I have to be at the office in time to meet the first client.
Before it's too late. Here's a common question: What's the difference between I finished the test
on time, and I finished the test in time? Let's say you have 60 minutes to complete a test,
and you finish in 55 minutes. Here, either sentence will give you the same information,
there is no difference. But situations where you can use these two phrases
interchangeably are not very common. So do remember those differences.
At the beginning or in the beginning? I have two more lines. At the beginning: We are focused on
the start of a period. Let the grammar help you. We normally say, at the beginning of something.
At the beginning of every month the teachers need to attend a professional development meeting.
At the beginning of every month, this could be the first Monday or Tuesday of every month. And let's
say a movie is 90 minutes long, and we are one hour into the movie. Hey, who is this guy? He was the
guy who was pretending to be the policeman at the beginning of the movie. Oh right! It's the same guy.
Front position, end position, both are fine.
In the beginning. The start is different from now. There is a contrast and we don't know specifically
when, that's not important. I want you to think about in the beginning, like the word originally.
So tell me, how did you make Plentywize a multi-million dollar company?
In the beginning we didn't have any money, clients, or investors. Our small team worked
80-hour weeks just to keep our heads above water. There is a contrast between
the multi-million dollar company now, and the company years ago. Do we know specifically when?
No. And to keep your head above water is a great business idiom, it means you have
just enough money but you're still struggling financially. Kind of like this dog swimming.
Your head is above water, but you're still having difficulties.
My first job after university was in Seattle. It was really hard for me in the beginning, but
after i made a few friends and got used to my new routine, I really started to love the city.
Is there a contrast? Yes. Do we know specifically when? No. So front position, end position, both
are fine. Kill time or waste time? These are two really fun phrases.
When we kill time, we do something because we're waiting for something else. That waiting
part is really important. When we waste time, it's really like we're throwing time into a trash can.
We're doing something but we're not being productive. We can even say we're being lazy.
I always arrive early for my flights, to kill time, I just look around the
duty-free stores. We normally have a lot of time to kill at airports, right?
Hmm, you wasted your entire day playing video games.
I have 20 minutes to kill before my doctor's appointment. I guess I'll go to Starbucks.
I waste a lot of time online watching cute puppy videos. So cute.
And we can also say something is a waste of time. Why am i the only one here? This is such a waste of
time. Recently or lately? Look at my timeline here: I have the past, the present, and the future. Both
recently and lately describe this period here. Near the present. Not too far in the past. Near
the present. Do we know specifically when? No. Will this action or situation continue into the future?
Maybe, maybe not. The good news is normally these two adverbs can be used interchangeably.
If you look in a dictionary the definition for recently is lately, and the definition for lately
is recently. I've been reading a lot recently. I've been reading a lot lately.
Maybe I started reading two months ago. It's rained a lot recently, it's rained a lot lately.
Maybe the heavy rain started two weeks ago, something like that? And
look at the tenses i'm using: Present perfect continuous, and present perfect.
This is because these actions are close to the present so we have that past to present connection.
Past simple would also be okay if we're describing the recent past. But can there be a difference
between these two words? Yes, so I've made a little chart for you. We can use lately and recently for
repeated actions like: reading, raining. These are things that can happen multiple times.
If it's one action, use recently. Bill and Jenna got married recently.
They recently bought a house. These are one-time actions. I cannot use lately.
We're halfway there, let's keep going with finally and eventually. Finally. Finally. We don't
say: feenally. Eventually, eventually. Finally after waiting a long time for something we are expecting.
This is the end point.
Dr Martin will see you now. Finally, I've been waiting over 45 minutes.
Was I expecting an appointment? Yes. Was I waiting a long time? Yes. And you can see i use the one word,
finally. We often use just that one word when we are happy something happened.
We're next! Finally. We finally arrived at our b&b after being on the road for six
hours. Is this our end point? Yes, it's our destination.
Were we waiting a long time? Yes. I mean, being on the road for six hours is a long time.
And remember at the beginning of this lesson I said: And finally, until or by.
We also use finally, to introduce the last thing in a list. And remember like 10 seconds ago I said:
And remember, at the beginning of this lesson I said. I used, at the beginning, because I really
wanted to emphasize the start of this lesson. And remember like three seconds ago I said:
I'm joking! Let's keep going. Eventually, later, we don't know when.
After many difficulties. That feeling is really important with, eventually. I'll never get a job,
I've already had four interviews and no one's taken me on. If you take someone on you hire
them. No one's hired me, no one's taken me on. Just keep going, eventually you will find a job.
Do we know when? No. Will there be many difficulties? Yes. Finding a job is hard work.
We don't only need to use a future tense, we can use
a past tense. I kept my bike outside for so long that it eventually rusted.
Did I know when? No. What's the difficulty here? Well rain, again and again and again,
is bad. Bad for bikes. Let's compare these two adverbs in the same situation.
There's been a pile of wood sitting in my garage for months.
My husband keeps saying he'll get rid of it. If we get rid of something, it means to remove something.
I know he'll do it eventually. Do I know when? No.
Am I having difficulties? Yes! I'm annoyed!
Can you believe it? My husband finally got rid of all that wood! Is this the end point?
Yes, the wood is gone. Did I wait a long time? Yes. Okay, just like on time in time, sometimes these
two adverbs can be used interchangeably. For example: They finally made a decision.
They eventually made a decision. Here, these really mean the same thing. If you want to be really
specific, I would say the person using finally, is happier and more relieved that something is done.
In this lesson I think these two adverbs are what students confuse the most. So let's do a few more
examples. Let's look at those positions. Front position, mid position, end position.
Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their support.
Mid position: My job transfer finally got approved, we're moving to Florida. End position: No. Front
position: Eventually, we are all going to die. Mid position: The flood water eventually receded.
End position: (and normally this is only in spoken English) This house will sell eventually.
Okay, before and ago. Here I have something. This could be an action or a situation.
Before is always this time, before something.
Imagine this meat expires on the 10th.
We need to eat this before the 10th, just to be on the safe side.
Yesterday. I saw Carrie the day before
yesterday. Before you go to bed you should brush your teeth. So, before something is clear.
But we often use before when we're speaking about past life experiences. Because we mean before now.
My son is really excited, he's never been on a plane before. Before now. Ago. From the present. From
the present further into the past. I graduated from university 12 years ago. The time is clear.
Did you get that email i sent to you a few days ago? If today's Thursday, a few days ago would have
been Monday. We know ago means, from the present into the past. If we want to go from a past point
further into the past, we need to use before. And you might be feeling like this.
Let's do an example. I bought a house two years ago, that's clear.
From the present. Last year my friend told me about a great house that was for sale.
But, I had already bought a house the year before. Can you see the points on my timelines?
Last pair before the test. Until and by. I know there's been a lot of lines in this lesson,
I like lines. I should change my channel name to Arnel's everyday lines. Okay. With until, an
action continues and then stops. Until is your stop sign. So an action continues up to something else.
I stayed awake until 2am to finish my work. Here it's clear, I was awake and after 2 am,
I was sleeping. My parents are staying with me until Monday, they leave Monday afternoon.
Or if you go to a restaurant, maybe you'll see this on a menu.
Lunch served until 2 p.m. Here it's clear at 2pm the lunch service stops.
Common question: What's the difference between until, and till? They mean the same thing. I would say
till is more common in spoken English and less formal than until. Until can also be followed
by a clause, not just one word. Mom can I get my ears pierced? You have to wait until you are 13.
At 13 the waiting stops. We can't continue with this project until we get the approval
from our council. By. This is the deadline, an action has to happen before or at this time.
I need to finish this report by Monday, Monday is my deadline. If I'm staying in a hotel
I need to check out by 10 am. 10 am is my deadline. On food packaging you might see this: Use by plus
date. Best by plus date. Kind of like on this milk carton here. You want to drink this milk by,
what's the date on this? May 26th. Let's compare again. You need to be here until
10 a.m. You need to be here by 10 a.m. There's a big difference. Let's say we're speaking about
a security guard. He's working the night shift. He needs to work until 10 a.m. He can leave
at 10. You need to be here by 10 a.m. Here it's clear he needs to start work at 10 am.
Are you ready for a test? Let's take a look. Okay, what I'd like you to do is to select the right
option. There can be more than one option possible, and don't just look at the one
word, look at the grammar surrounding the options. Pause the video to do this.
Here are the answers.
Don't forget to let me know how you did in the comments below. Wow! I really enjoyed making this
lesson for you. Thank you so much for watching, I hope this lesson was helpful. I'll see you next
time. Don't forget to let me know your test results down below. Thank you very much, bye!!!