GRAMMAR POINT
TIME CONJUNCTIONS

Present and time conjunctions

- To talk about the present, we use the same tense we would use in the main clause.
Example : I normally look after the children while she is practising.

- To talk about an action that is completed before another action described in the main clause, we can use either simple or perfect tenses.
Example : As soon as you see /have seen her, come and tell me.

- However if we are talking about an action in the adverbial clause that takes place over a period of time, we generally prefer the present perfect.
Example : After I have written this book, I am having a holiday.
You can go when you have typed this letter.

- If the two actions take place in the same time, use a simple tense, not a perfect tense.
Example : Turn the light out as you leave.

Future in adverbial clauses introduced by time conjunctions

- We use the present simple to refer to the future, not will, in adverbial clauses introduced by time conjunctions such as after, before, when, and until.
Example : After you go another fifty metres, you will see a path to your left.
When you see Dennis, tell him he still owes me some money.
Wait here until I call you.

- Warning : We use the future with when in the following cases :
Ø When when is : an interrogative adverb
· "When will they arrive ?"
· " We wondered when the first men would reach the moon."
Ø When when is: a relative pronoun in expressions such as the day when:
Example : We look forward to the day when we shall be free.

The use of past simple and past perfect with time expressions

- When we use a time expression (i.e. after, as soon as, before, by the time (that), when) to say that one event happened after another, we use either the past simple or past perfect for the event that happened first and the past simple for the event that happened second.
Example : After Ivan (had) finished reading, he put out the light.
When Carol (had) brushed her teeth, she went to bed.

- But to emphasise that the second event is the result of the first, we prefer the past simple for both.
Example : She became famous after she appeared on the TV programme.
When the teacher came in, all the children stood up.

- With already and just, we use the past perfect, not the past simple.
Example : The film had already begun by the time we got to the cinema.
She had just stepped into her office when the telephone rang.

Particular use of Before and Until

- We use before if the action or event in the main clause has little or no duration and does not take place until the time represented in the adverbial clause.
Example : She walked out before I had a chance to explain.

- We can often use either until or before when a situation described in the main clause lasts until a time indicated in the adverbial clause.
· To say how far away a future event is:
Example: It was three days until/ before the letter arrived.
· If the main clause is negative:
Example: I didn't think I'd like skiing until/ before I tried it.

- Compare the use of until and before when the main clause is positive :
Example : He used to live with us until/ before he moved down to London.
Here until means up to the time. Before means at some time before (but not necessarily right up to the time specified). If the adverbial clause also describes the result of an action in the main clause, we use until.
Example : He cleaned his shoes until they shone.

Particularities : hardly, no sooner, scarcely.

- When we say that one event happened immediately after another, we can use sentences with hardly, no sooner and scarcely.
Example : The concert had already begun before the light went out.
I had no sooner lit the barbecue than it started to rain.

- We often use a past perfect in the clause with hardly, no sooner and scarcely, and the simple past in the second clause. After hardly and scarcely, the second clause begins with when or before ; after no sooner, it begins with than.
In a literary style, we often use the word order hardly/ no sooner/ scarcely + Verb + Subject at the beginning of the first clause.
Example: Scarcely had Mrs James stepped into the classroom when the boys began fighting.