今天給學生講狀語從句時講到until和till的用法,學生:until就是直到的意思,句型 (It was not until ... + that ...,Not until ... 部分倒裝, not ... until ... )裡為什麼要加not?It was not until the rain stopped that he left. 這個句子本身是until在強調句中的用法,去掉強調句,剩下兩個句子:我:根據句子意思,he left的時間點是the rain stopped的時間點,雨停之前他是沒有離開的,所以應該是:He didn't leave until the rain stopped. (提鍊句式:not ... until ...)
Not until the rain stopped did he leave. 直到雨停,他才離開。
It was not until the rain stopped that he left. 直到雨停,他才離開。
好了,考慮到狀語從句有太多需要背的知識點,課上就沒有繼續拓展until的用法。課後的時候,我就在思考,英文中有很多介詞或者表達可以替換until的意思,那它們有什麼用法區別呢?我們用 by 來表達 'before an end time.' (在結束時間之前)/ 『no later than' (不遲於)
I sent the letter to them today, so they should receive it by Monday. (= on or before Monday, not later than Monday)我們用 until / till to 表達 'up to an end time.' (到結束時間為止)I didn't get up until half past ten. up till now = up to now 到現在為止
補充:In American English we use through,如through Sunday(到周日為止)對比2. From ... to ... & from ... until ... We lived in Japan from 2007 to 2014. = We lived in Japan from 2007 until 2014. 關於3,我們需要注意的是,until不僅僅只是「直到」這個意思,其本質思維是「一個(主句)動作一直持續到某一個時間點」。所以,until / till前的主句的謂語必須是延續性動詞,從句的謂語必須是短暫性動詞或時間點。在下面的例句中,wait就是延續性動詞,而stop是短暫性動詞。We waited until the rain stopped.
那麼,課堂怎麼教這個點?對於初高中學生來說,弄懂知識點後,再做做練習,基本問題不大了。對練習感興趣的可以在公眾號對話框回復until就可以獲得練習資料啦。