tenses with 'until'

[joham]

1. I had waited six weeks until the parcel arrived.
2. I was waiting six weeks until the parcel arrived.
3. I waited six weeks until the parcel arrived.
4. I had been waiting six weeks until the parcel arrived.

Are all four sentences fine without differences? And how about 'Six weeks went by/ had gone by until the parcel arrived'?

Could I ask native English teachers to help me with these questions?

Thank you very much.

 

[louhevly]

1. I had waited six weeks until the parcel arrived.
2. I was waiting six weeks until the parcel arrived.
3. I waited six weeks until the parcel arrived.
4. I had been waiting six weeks until the parcel arrived.

Are all four sentences fine without differences? And how about 'Six weeks went by/ had gone by until the parcel arrived'?

Could I ask native English teachers to help me with these questions?

Thank you very much.

To my ear they are all kind of weird; I guess 3 would be OK, but it would be better as "I waited six weeks for the parcel to arrive".

You can leave out the "six weeks" and 1, 2 and 3 sound OK. 4 would sound better as "I'd been waiting for the parcel to arrive".

Or you could change "until" to "before" and then 1, 3 and 4 sound OK ("I had waited six weeks before the parcel arrived", etc.).

Where did you find these sentences? You might try going to Google and doing a search on «"until the * arrived"» (including quote marks). Then you'll have a better idea of which tenses are normally used with "until".

 

[joham]

Martin Hewings' ADVANCED GRAMMAR IN USE (2005 edition, Cambridge), unit 79:
We had to wait six weeks until/ before the parcel arrived.