Questions about "until"

Question

I found a sentence:

The photographs will be on exhibition until the end of the month. Does it meat that the photographs is already on exhibition and is going to stay until mentioned time or they will be delivered and then will stay until mentioned time?

One more question. Is the following sentence correct?

I waited until the app had been installed in my computer. Please, give short answers to my questions. Thank you guys! (It's me from future).

If no specific month has been mentioned earlier in the dialogue then by default *the month* means *the current month. But the preceding sentence here could have been, say, The Tate Modern will be showcasing his work next April*, in which case those photos won't be going on display until next year. — FumbleFingers, Jun 17 '20 at 15:06
Is it natural to say "the electricity will be cut off until next week" or "the electricity won't be supplied until next week"? What would you native English speakers say? — Vova, Jun 17 '20 at 16:02
Both of those sentences are fine. You might want to look at answers to Understanding the meaning and usage of ‘until’ as asked here previously. Perhaps Is “until” inclusive or exclusive? and until VS. before will also be helpful. — FumbleFingers, Jun 17 '20 at 16:14

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 17 '20 at 15:06

The first sentence is ambiguous with respect to your question.

The exhibition will open on July 2. The photographs will be exhibited until the end of the month.

The exhibition opened last week. The photographs will be exhibited until the end of the month.

"Until" refers to the end of a period but is silent on its beginning. The first example implies that start and end are both future. The second implies that the start is past although the end is future.

The second sentence is correct, but again is silent on when you started waiting.

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 17 '20 at 15:05

-1

The first sentence suggests, but doesn't imply, that the photographs are already on exhibition. There may have been a sentence just before it that said "The photographs will go on exhibition tomorrow." If that is not the case, it probably means they are on exhibition now.

The second sentence is grammatically correct and natural.

answered Jun 17 '20 at 15:05

Jack O'Flaherty

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@ Jack I did not downvote your answer, but I am worried that when you say "suggests," you were thinking about a specific context that we do not know about. What is suggested may be very strongly suggested by context, but absent any context, I do not think "until" suggests anything about "since" or "after." I'd be happy to upvote your answer if you make what I think is a needed edit. – Jeff Morrow Jun 17 '20 at 15:18
@JeffMorrow I think the sentence, absent a preceding sentence stating when the exhibition starts, does suggest that the pix are already on exhibition, so I will leave my answer as it stands, let it collect as many downvotes as it will. :-) – Jack O'Flaherty Jun 17 '20 at 15:23
Jack, I really think you should rethink your position there (it was my downvote). What you're saying is that just because *you think* "the most likely context" for the cited text would be one where the photographs are already on exhibition, that's the same as saying *the word themselves* have that "implication". By all means you can say that's the most likely interpretation because it's the most likely real-world context, but you shouldn't extrapolate that to *because the words themselves imply that*. – FumbleFingers Jun 17 '20 at 16:19
(For what it's worth, when I first read the question I simply assumed it was in reference to some *future* exhibition. Different people make different assumptions when presented with "contextless text".) – FumbleFingers Jun 17 '20 at 16:23
@FFRM I clearly stated "suggests, but doesn't imply", so there's no implication involved. I introduced the question of context in my second sentence. I continue to think that the words as given in the OP do suggest that the show is open now, without context indicating otherwise. But if I don't convince you, I'm happy to remain in disagreement. :-) – Jack O'Flaherty Jun 17 '20 at 19:47

Questions about "until"

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