'until' is wrong here?-I've wanted to read The book for months,--until--today I finally borrowed it. Question: I've wanted to read The Diary of a Young Girl for months, --------- today I finally borr

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'until' is wrong here?-I've wanted to read The book for months,--until--today I finally borrowed it. Question: I've wanted to read The Diary of a Young Girl for months, --------- today I finally borrowed the book from the library. (A) and (B) since (C)so (D)until ------- My concern about the usage of 'until'. The answers is (A)and, but "(D)until" is also reasonable to me to fit in the context. What's wrong with "until" here? I already check three online dictionaries, but still didn't found restriction about this. ------ The only clue that I found is that all the main clause about 'until' example sentence never uses the perfect tense. Is that related to this sentence and my question? I will be grateful for any help you can provide. Thank you very much. -------- updated Sorry, there is an argument here I forgot to mention. The official answer is only '(a)and'. Some teachers said "(c)so" is wrong because there is no strong Causal relationship here. And only if "finally" is eliminated, then "(c)so" could be the answer. Is that explanation correct?

Jul 29, 2019 5:03 AM

Answers · 18

Yes, I think the present perfect tense is the problem. We mostly use "until" with the past, present, or future tense. The past perfect would be okay, too -- "I had wanted to check out the book until last week, when I finally borrowed it." But we don't say we "have done" something "until" something else, since "have done" implies that the action is still ongoing, or has only just barely ended. In casual conversation, you might hear people use "until" with the present perfect tense. It sounds a little strange, but not too strange.

July 29, 2019

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