Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[fw]

Are both #1 and #2 appropriate for the blank in the sentence below?
1. before
2. until

Tom studied for three hours ( ) John came.

I thought both are OK, but an English-Japanese dictionary at hand says that #1, not #2, is appropriate. What do you think?

[pugachevV]

I agree with you, but before is the better answer.

There is a slight difference in meaning. If you studied for 3 hours before John came, you may have studied from 3p.m. until 6 p.m. John arrived at 8 p.m.

If you study for three hours until John came you were studying when he arrived.