When, after, before, until, since, while, once, asandas soon asare subordinating conjunctions which can be used to connect an action or an event to a point in time.
action/event | conjunction | time |
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Many of these time conjunctions can be followed by-ingor-edforms instead of subject + verb.
See also:
Non-finite clauses
We don’t usewillafter conjunctions referring to future time:
Whenpeoplewalkinto the room, they will feel something special.
Not:Whenpeople will walk into the room…
I will call youas soon asIgetto the office.
Not: …as soon as I will get to the office.
When,once,as soon as
We can usewhen, once, asandas soon asto talk about a specific point in time when something happened or will happen:
Whenwe were in Greece, we went to as many islands as possible.
They always close their curtainsoncethey get home in the evening.
As soon aswe hear any news, we’ll call you.
Before,afteranduntil
We usebeforeandafterto talk about the order of events in the past or future. Withbeforeandafter, either the main clauseor the subordinate clause can come first:
[event 1]She’ll pick you upbefore[event 2]she comes here.
After[event 1]she comes here,[event 2]she’ll pick you up.
Untilas a time conjunction means up to a time in the past or future. In the case ofuntil, the main clauseusually comes first:
I’m going to waituntilthe January sales start to buy a new jacket.
Untilhe mentioned his name was Doug, I thought he was called Damien!(less common order)
We spelluntilwith onel.(Not:untill)
While
We usewhileto show that actions or events happen at the same time in the past, present or future:
Can you wait in the carwhileI run into the shop?
They were talkingwhilethe teacher was explaining the activity.
We don’t useduringinstead ofwhile. Duringis a preposition, not a conjunction, and it must be followed by a noun or a pronoun:
I like to have the radio onwhileI study.
Not:I like to have the radio on during I study.
See also:
As
Since
Whileandwhilst
Before
Once
Until
Punctuation