till

«till» in Mova's school dictionary: until, up to a time: open from 9 till 5 — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

preposition, conjunction, noun, verb (till, tills, tilled)

meaning for a pupil

1) Till means until, up to a time: open from 9 till 5. tree →

2) A till is the drawer or machine where a shop keeps money and gives change (a cash register). tree →

3) To till the soil is to dig and prepare it for planting. tree →

sense in the lessons

Maths: marks the end of a period of time: «from 9 till 5» asks for elapsed time (8 hours); «saved till she had 50» gives the goal amount; money in the till. Farming: farmers till the land before sowing. Everyday: «pay at the till», «wait till later».

examples

• The shop is open from 9 till 5. tree →
• She saved till she had 50 dollars. tree →
• There are 200 dollars in the till. tree →
• He worked till noon. tree →
• Wait till the green man shows before you cross. tree →
• Please pay at the till. tree →
• The farmer tills his fields in spring. tree →
• We played till it got dark. tree →
• Do this each day till I return." tree →

note

Same meaning as «until»; «'til» is also seen. «From 9 till 5» asks for elapsed time (8 hours). «Saved till she had 50» gives the goal amount. Trap: «from 9 till 5» crosses noon, so think on a clock, not 5 − 9.

In the corpora

• Supermarkets are designed to make people buy more than they planned, with offers, smells and treats by the tills.
• She whispers to her mum that the girls watched a scary film and she lay awake till three, listening to every creak.
• The King: «Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop.»
• No, says the Rat — he must stick by Toad till it's over; it won't take long.
• I ought to stick by Toad till this trip is ended.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «till» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.