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Until and till

These two words mean exactly the same. They can be used both as prepositions and conjunctions. Note that until is more formal than till.

• I will wait until/till I hear from you.
• Wait until/till tomorrow.
• Wait until/till he returns.

Until/till and to

To can sometimes be used as a preposition of time with the same meaning as until/till. This happens after from …

• I usually work from ten to six. (OR I usually work from ten until/till six.)

Cases where until/till is not used

Until/till is used only to talk about time. To talk about distance, we use to, as far as or up to; up to is also used to talk about quantity.

• We walked as far as/up to the edge of the forest. (NOT …until/till the edge of the forest.)
• You can earn up to $100 a week.

It is sometimes possible to use until/till before a place name in the sense of ‘until we get to …’.

• Go straight on until/till you come to the post office and then turn left.

Tenses after until

After until, we use present tenses to refer to the future.

• I will wait until she returns. (NOT … until she will return.)

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