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Nearly a month had gone by _____ they went out of the forest.
A. until B. while C. before D. after
(The given answer is C.)
I'd like to know if A is also fine. And why?
Nearly a month had gone by _____ they went out of the forest.
A. until B. while C. before D. after
(The given answer is C.)
I'd like to know if A is also fine. And why?
"they went out of the forest" is just a point of time; until doesn't work here in that it refers to a period of time.
Nearly a month had gone by _____ they went out of the forest.
A. until B. while C. before D. after
(The given answer is C.)
I'd like to know if A is also fine. And why?
"they went out of the forest" is just a point of time; until doesn't work here in that it refers to a period of time.
----------- “Nearly a month had gone by” is just a description of a fact, and the fact itself doesn’t last up to the point of time (please don’t be confused bya month) when they “went out of the forest.” In other words, “Nearly a month had gone by” means a terminative action, not a period of time. I hope I have made myself understood.
The wording of the latter part is not best practice:
....they went -
....they left the forest. cf Fowler
Although went (used to be past tense of wend) is now usually the past tense of go, go is motion and does not fit the sentence. Left as past tense of leave is not only better English and better spoken English it is more correct.
before, until 
Re: before, until 
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