TOEIC question

We have ______ the end of the month to raise the necessary capital.

A) for
B) until
C) still
D) before

I dont' know the answer yet. It seems to me that D) is the best one, becasue before is similar to by. Please advise.

LC

Yup

Until is the correct answer.

Grammar Geek wrote:

until. You must raise the money BEFORE the end of the month or You must raise the money BY the end of the month, but in this order, You have UNTIL the end of the month. (Obviously, for and still don't make any sense at all.)

Hi Barbara,

I still don't understand why before can't be used here. Or I can but until is better than it. Please advise.

LC

Let me see. I am terrible at naming things like "an adverb of {X} which modifies a clause of {Y}. So I can only show you by examples. I know "because that's the way we do it" isn't a good answer, so perhaps someone will come in and give the "proper" explanation. But here are some examples of usage.

If you have to do something by a certain date or event, you could say "You must do it BEFORE [date or event]." (You can use "by" as well, but I'm going to use only "before" to keep it more simple.)

If you want to visit, you must plan to arrive BEFORE I start my new job. (Because after that, I won't have time to visit with you.)

How much time do you have? You have UNTIL I start my new job. (It's not idiomatic to say "You have before I start my new job to visit.")

You must files your taxes before April 15. You have until April 15 to file your taxes.

The idiom is to have [amount of time] to (do something).
It means that the action described by the final infinitive must be done within the amount of time allotted.

The students had one hour to complete the exam.
We have three months to install the kitchen cabinets.
Martha and Sam have only three days to prepare for the party.

Focus on just the amount of time.  The amount of time can be expressed in several additional ways with the help of prepositions like since, until, from, and to.  These prepositions are used to show the temporal boundaries of amounts of time, so the amount of time is shown indirectly by mentioning the beginning and/or ending of the time period.  (If only one of the two boundaries is mentioned, the other boundary normally defaults to now.)

The students have had since last Thursday to finish the homework.  (The amount of time is from last Thursday until now.)
We have until March 17 to make a decision.  (The amount of time is from now until March 17.)
Martha and Sam have from Wednesday to the end of the week to buy the ingredients.  (The amount of time is from Wednesday to the end of the week.)

The words before and after are used differently.  They specify when in time, usually with respect to a point in time as marked by some event.  In this way they are similar to expressions like at 6 o'clock.  They don't specify how much time either directly (as in one hour) or indirectly through time boundaries (as in until tomorrow).

after the concert says when (with respect to the time of the concert), not how much time.
before sunset says when (with respect to the time of sunset), not how much time.

Consider what is wrong here:

*We have at 6 o'clock to finish the job.  (at 6 o'clock is not an amount of time.)
*We have after Tuesday to decide on a plan.  (after Tuesday is not an amount of time.)

It is possible, although less usual, to combine the two sets of prepositions. 

The men have had since before the end of last week to pave the road.
Sam and Yolanda have until after the 15th to send the invitations.
We will probably have until just before 7:15 to get to the box office and pick up the tickets.
Jack has from slightly after 8 until five minutes before 9 to clean the bedrooms.

I hope this helps.
CJ