Tone is everything in writing. If you’re writing a professional email, you want to come across as a smart, educated person — but at the same time, if you’re throwing off a casual text to a friend, you don’t exactly want to sound like your snooty English teacher. Luckily, the English language has different variations of words to make them sound relatively more or less formal in different scenarios. But these versions can lead to questions, like what is the difference between different word forms, and are they all technically correct? In this article, we’ll be answering that question for Until vs. Till vs. ‘Til. We’ll also give you the opportunity at the bottom of the page to test your new knowledge on a quiz.
Until: Meaning and Usage
Until is a preposition or conjunction meaning ‘up to a point in time.’ For instance, you might say, “You’ll be in debt until you graduate from college,” or, “I have until November 1st to turn in this paper.” Until is a very commonly used word in the English language, and most English speakers know how to use until correctly. However, until sometimes feels too formal for casual conversation. The question of grammar then arises when speakers try to abbreviate the word.
Till: Meaning and Usage
Till means exactly the same thing as until: It is a preposition or conjunction meaning ‘up to a point in time.’ Till can be directly substituted for until in a sentence. For instance, you might say, “She was up till eleven last night,” or “Till she gets home, I don’t know if I can relax.”
Interestingly, till is not an abbreviation for until. In fact, till is an older word than until, and has been around since the 10th century. That means that till is not a misspelled abbreviation, but rather a word in its own right. It is thus proper to use till in even the most academic of settings.
Unlike the other words on this list, it’s also worth remembering that till is also a noun and a verb, both of which have different meanings. Till the noun means a cash register, as in the sense, “She carried her drink up to the till.” Till in the verb form means to plow, such as, “The farmers tilled their plots of land.”
‘Til: Meaning and Usage
‘Til, however, is an abbreviation. ‘Til is a shortened form of the word until with the same meaning. It can also be substituted directly for until. For instance, you could say, “She stayed up ‘til the sunrise,” or “I ran ‘til I reached the hills.”
But ‘til is not universally accepted as professional language. Though it is commonly used in casual conversations — such as in texts, or in dialogue that attempts to capture a colloquial tone — it is generally rejected in formal settings. That means you shouldn’t use ‘til in a paper, proposal, or professional document. Instead, opt for the more basic until. It might sound boring, but it ensures there will be no confusion between yourself and your readers about your credibility.
What About Other Variations?
There are other variations of until that are still in use, including untill and ‘till. What about these usages?
Ultimately, both untill and ‘till are grammatically incorrect. Untill is not a word: hundreds of years ago, it was an alternate spelling of until, but now it is considered obsolete. Likewise, ‘till is considered by many to be a bastardized combination of till and ‘til. Because till is not an abbreviation (despite common belief), it does not require an apostrophe. Keep things simple, and just stick to the apostrophe-free until and till.
Tips for Remembering Until vs. Till vs. ‘Til
There were a lot of different variations of the word until here. So how do you remember what is correct or incorrect in Until vs. Till vs. ‘Til?
One way to remember is to think of a floating snake. The snake can only be in one place at one time, and he’s wriggling around the central letters TIL. In the word Until the snake forms the u and n. In the word till the snake forms the extra L at the end. And in the word ‘til, the snake curls up into a ball and forms the apostrophe. But the snake can’t form the word untill because he can’t be both the u and n and the l at the end of the word. Likewise, the snake can’t form the word ‘till because he can’t form both the L and the apostrophe.
When in doubt, always remember that the core letters TIL can only be modified at one end at a time. This can help correct you when you get mixed up.
Test Yourself on Until vs. Till vs. ‘Til
The best way to make sure you understand is to test yourself. Use our quiz below to flex your skills and make sure you understand Until vs. Till vs. ‘Til. Just mark which sentences are correct and which are not. Making a few too many mistakes? Review our tips and try again!
- We’re just going to have to put up with the darkness until Daylight Savings Time starts again in March.
- She screamed till she was red as an apple.
- Untill I met you, I had no idea people could have purple eyes.
- I’ll keep praying for rain ‘till it comes.
- I ran and ran until finally I hit the end of the sidewalk.
- She said she isn’t buying any more presents ‘till after Christmas.
- We believed in space aliens till we were seventeen.
- I promised I would stay out all night, from dusk ‘till dawn.
- Untill my mother gets better, I’m afraid I can’t go on any vacations.
- She couldn’t wait ‘til January 1st.
- Correct. 2. Correct. 3. Incorrect. 4. Incorrect. 5. Correct. 6. Incorrect. 7. Correct. 8. Incorrect. 9. Incorrect. 10. Correct (depending on context.)
Other Grammar Related Posts
If you’re teaching yourself English grammar, be sure to check out our other grammar-related posts, including our Their, There, and They’re blog post.
