Is the correct spelling til or till? Or ‘til with an apostrophe?
This has been a highly debated topic amongst English fanatics.
The most common misconception
Many claim that ‘til is an abbreviation of until, and that it eventually was written without an apostrophe, as til, and then with an extra L, as till. Although this may look like a logical flow of events, the idea that until came before till is a misconception.
The correct variants
Till is actually an older version of the word until. Hence, the rumor that till came from until is false. The two synonyms, until and till, can be used interchangeably, as they have the same meaning. In the recent times, the older till may be perceived as more informal than until because it was often mistaken as a shortened form of until.
The misspellings
Til, ‘til, and ‘till are misspellings of till and until. However, the first two, til and ‘til, have been used in poems, song lyrics, and even some books through the modern times because they are often mistaken as shortened forms of until.
The word till originated from the Old English til, but because we no longer use Old English, we no longer use the spelling til with one L.
With the Google Books Ngram Viewer, we can see that the older till was most commonly used until around 1843. After that, until was more widely used in published books. Meanwhile, til, ‘till, and ‘til were rarely used.
In context
Here are some example sentences that use either until or till. Because the two words are interchangeable, you can freely change out one for the other and the sentence would still be grammatically correct and convey the same meaning.
- I cannot go until my professor gives me permission.
- Until the rain stops, we should stay inside.
- The speaker patiently waited till the last person stopped clapping.
- I will run till I can’t stand anymore.
- I can’t wait until the band’s new album comes out.
- The item will be on sale till the end of this month.
- Eunice had been using her favorite pencil for years until it broke last month.
- Stir your hot chocolate till you don’t see any chunks of powder.
- George said he would run for class president until he got the spot.
- Whip the egg whites till they becomes meringue, which should stick to the bowl even when upside down.
When in doubt
What if you cannot decide whether to use till or until? Because in recent times till is often mistaken as either a misspelling or more informal than until, until is the safer option to use when writing formal English. Although till is correct and a formal word like until, due to common misconceptions about till, until is the safest option that will not spark controversy.
Language is always changing, so perhaps one day both till and until will become archaic and be replaced with a completely different word. For now, however, both words are correct and commonly used in English.
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