Ask & Learn闻问切英语口语:Until
读者 Edmund 来电邮指出,until 的后面通常是表达时间的用语,例如:
I could not swim until last year.
I will not come back to Hong Kong until September.
Edmund 想问,这些句子的时限,是否包括 until 后面所指定的时间?
Until 后面的时间用语,是标明动作的时间的上限。
"I could not swim until last year" 翻译成中文就是「直至去年,我都不会游泳」。也就是说,自去年开始,我会游泳了。
还要注意一点:until 的句型,通常是以反面的方式说出来。如果想表达九月才回香港,不可说成 "I will come back to Hong Kong until September",而是 "I will not come back to Hong Kong until September" 或 "not until September will I come back to Hong Kong",但后者涉及倒装句法,如果不是要加强语气,平常少用为妙。
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