Difference Between Until And Unless
Both until and unless are conjunctions and the simple difference between these two is about time and condition. Until refers to ‘time’ whereas unless refers to ‘condition’. Understanding the difference between these two will become quite easier looking at top 10 examples given below:
Until: Up to a time something is not done
Unless: Up to a condition something is not done
Examples of until and unless
- Until he wakes up, he will not be able to reach office in time.
- Until you catch train, you will not be able to reach your village tomorrow.
- Until you wait for your friend to come here, you will not be able to meet him.
- Until your parents come here, you should not go outside.
- Until the news is published on the website, you will not be able to read it in detail.
- Unless they work hard on their subjects, they will not be able to pass in upcoming exams.
- Unless your brother starts working on this issue, he will not be able to solve it as soon as possible.
- Unless he prepares for the interview, it will be difficult for him to clear it in an easy manner.
- Unless you read different types of books, you will not be able to get knowledge of this world.
- Unless he does the practice on the computer to learn excel, he will not be able to master it in any way.
I hope you have understood the rules on difference between until and unless but one thing you must keep in mind that you should not in any way use ‘not’ in the part of sentence beginning with until or unless because this part of sentence already has negative with the uses of until and unless. The part which has ‘until’ or ‘unless’ is known as dependent clause and the second part will be known as independent clause. Look at the examples to understand in detail.
Unless he practises his English, he will not be able to speak it fluently.
In this particular sentence, there are two parts.
Unless he practises his English, (Dependent clause)
he will not be able to speak it fluently. (Independent clause)
The first part starting with unless will not take ‘not’ in any way because it already has negative with the usage of unless. This is a common mistake which many English speakers make but keep in mind not to do the same so that you may make your English as accurately perfect as possible.
Go through the following exercise to practise until and unless:
- _______ he leaves home on time, he will not be able to attend the interview (until/unless)
- _______ you buy this phone, you will not be able to sell your old phone. (until/unless)
- _______ he thinks about doing this work, he cannot start it. (until/unless)
- _______ his intention is right, he will not be able to do well in life. (until/unless)
- _______ John’s book is in his room, he will not be able to read it. (until/unless)
- _______ Rahul’s father returns home, he does not sit for studies. (until/unless)
- _______ the government works for the people of the country, people do not vote for it. (until/unless)
- _______ anybody works hard, it is difficult to become rich. (until/unless)
- _______ somebody’s luck is good, winning lottery is impossible. (until/unless)
- _______ all students practise this rule, they cannot learn it. (until/unless)
Also read – 12 Idioms with numbers
I’m Mohammad Zahid Hussain, a Content Writer, Spoken English, IELTS and PTE Trainer. I’m also a Professional English-Hindi and Hindi-English Translator, Editor and Proofreader. I’m a graduate from Jamia Millia Islamia University, and I’m here to share my articles on a wide range of topics to help you enhance your insights into various things to provide you with factual information and creative analysis.
