When do you check your emails? …
When? …
What time? …
Practice … (examples)
Peter washes his apple …
Before …
After …
After lunch
Daniel
Where do you want to go after lunch?
Sue
I don’t know, but I need to pay and go to the toilet before we leave.
Daniel
Okay, I’ll meet you outside.
Sue
What time does the museum open? We could go there.
Daniel
At 2pm I think. When did we last go to the museum?
Sue
Oh, at least two years ago.
Daniel
Alright, let’s go to the museum.
Sue
We need to get a guidebook before we go in.
Daniel
Sure, and we must go to the gift shop after we’re done.
Sue
Great, let’s go!
‘when’ and ‘what time’
These are both used to ask ‘when’.
‘when‘ is used to ask about a general time, without numbers. It can be answered using words like: tomorrow, soon, next week, on Thursday, later today.
‘what time‘ is used to ask about an exact time, using numbers. It can be answered by giving a time like: 8am, quarter past twelve, midnight.
when?
‘When do you think my parcel will arrive?’
‘It will arrive next week.’
‘When did you last see the dog?’
‘This morning, after breakfast.’
‘When are we going to the beach?’
‘We’ll go on Saturday.’
what time?
‘What time will they arrive?’
‘Their train arrives at 7.15pm.’
‘What time does your class begin?’
‘At 9am.’
‘Do you know what time the meeting is?’
‘Yes, it’s at 3.30 this afternoon.’
‘before’and ‘after’
We use ‘before‘ and ‘after‘ to talk about the order of events in the past or future.
‘before‘ is used to ask about one thing happening earlier than another.
‘after‘ is used to ask about one thing happening later than another.
before
Brush your teeth before you go to bed.
She’ll pick Peter up before she comes here.
He thanked everyone before he left.
I must finish this work before lunchtime.
Before you go, can you check this please?
(Can you check this before you go please?)
after
We usually watch TV after dinner.
I always go to the gym after I finish work.
He left after thanking everyone.
I’ll have lunch after I finish this work.
After we arrived at the hotel, I went straight to bed.
(I went straight to bed after we arrived at the hotel.)
Make your own questions – your answers will be different
- Close the door before you go out.
- I put on make-up before I go to work.
- Sally relaxes after she eats dinner.
- Jane doesn’t watch TV after she finishes her homework.
- He reads a newspaper after he finishes his Spanish lessons.
- Lock the windows before you go to bed.
- I edit my photos before I put them on Facebook.