This video is about the expression of time "by the time." Frequently misused, this expression can be used for a past, present or future action, meaning "at some point before." By the time is followed by a clause with a relative time that specifies an end or completion time. Students tend to confuse it with other expressions that have similar meanings. This lesson is for elementary students who wish to study or review English grammar and vocabulary and for students who reached an advanced level but who wish to brush up on some grammar rules.
Watch, Listen & Speak English!
Mr. P. is a Canadian English Teacher/Coach from Toronto, Canada, who has been teaching English since 1997. He taught English to adults in Rome for over 20 years. He is an Honorary Fellow in the English Language at UNITELMA La Sapienza University in Rome. In the past, he was also a Language Monitor at the University of Toronto. He has also taught English to many important politicians and celebrities in Italy. He is a certified English Teacher specializing in TEFL, TESL, TESOL (Arizona State University) & TOEFL. Marc's channel aims to make his lessons concise and effective for everyone. Subscribe for weekly updates, and please make comments and requests.
Hello everyone, this is Mark again. How are you today? By the time you finish watching
this English lesson, you will have learned how to use an adverb of time. In this lesson,
I'm going to actually talk about by the time. By the time is an adverb of time and it means
before. We can use it in the past, in the present, and in the future. Let's look at
my introductory sentence again. By the time you finish watching this English lesson,
you will have learned how to use an adverb of time. If you can see, this is by the time
with a future intention, with the future. So, the formula for the future is by the time plus
present, the present of the verb that you want to use, and then the main clause,
which is the second clause, is with a future perfect. I repeat, by the time you finish
watching this English lesson, you will have learned how to use an adverb of time.
Now, let's look at by the time with a past action. We use by the time plus past simple
and then the main clause, we use the past perfect. So, I could give you an example.
By the time I arrived home, she had already gone away. Okay, this could be the example.
Now, with the present, we use by the time plus present simple and then the present perfect.
So, by the time I arrived home, she has already gone away. Okay, now let's look at by the time
in a timeline. Okay, you can see that the first part of the sentence is the second part of the
timeline because something came before by the time. Okay, so, the example that I gave you was
by the time you finish watching this video, okay, or this English lesson, you will have learned
an adverb of time. Okay, an adverb of time is the first action that happened in the timeline
and then finish the video, the English video, is the second action that you will see in the timeline.
Now, let's recap. I say by the time means before and is an adverb of time. We use it in the present,
in the past, and in the future. You have to pay attention to the different types of formulas that
we use with different tenses. So, for the present, we use by the time plus present simple and the
main clause, we use the present perfect. For the past action, we use by the time plus the past
simple and then the past perfect in the second clause, in the main clause. Okay, and for a future
action, we use by the time plus the present simple plus in the main clause. Okay, we use the future
perfect. Okay, so now I have a question for you. What will you have studied by the time you finish
university? What will you have studied by the time you finish university? So, have a nice day. I hope
you enjoyed this video. Please share it and I see you next time. Take care. Bye-bye.
