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Just a quick question while writing an essay: how does one use the "until eventually" phrase properly in a sentence? More specifically, location of punctuation and if it is even grammatically correct.

Cheers

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  • Personally I would never use that phrase. "Until" should be followed by a noun or noun phrase that denotes a point in time. "Eventually" is an adjective.
    – Lee Daniel Crocker
    Commented Feb 22, 2015 at 23:18
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    It's not a "phrase" by itself, just a pair of words. They might appear next to other in, eg, "I'm going to keep practicing the violin until eventually I get to Carnegie Hall," but that's pretty much random coincidence (and insane thinking).
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Feb 22, 2015 at 23:23
  • @Lee Daniel Crocker Adjective?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Feb 22, 2015 at 23:27
  • Sorry, I mean adverb, of course.
    – Lee Daniel Crocker
    Commented Feb 22, 2015 at 23:33
  • @HotLicks: But how else can you get to Carnegie Hall by any other way than to practice, practice, practice? Don
    – rhetorician
    Commented Feb 23, 2015 at 1:53

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"I will study hard until eventually I can pass the exam." This is grammatically correct. You are implying that you will retake the exam if you don't pass it the first time, however.

"until eventually" implies that something will happen at some time in the future, it can happen soon or it can often happen after a great deal of time has passed.

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I believe that in your context you require something of the following sort:

(Subject) will/shall (do something) until eventually (result happens to object)

However I believe it would be more correct to use the following forms:

(Subject) will/shall (do something) until (object) eventually (has result happening to it)

For example instead of:

I will practice my punches until eventually I can punch a hole through my punching bag.

Use:

I will practice my punches until I can eventually punch a hole through my punching bag.

However use of eventually in either way can tend to give the meaning of slow eventual happening, like you slowly punching a hole through the bag over time. Beware of this and make sure your meaning is clear.

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  • I see no reason to add anything between until and eventually in the examples you gave.
    – Michael Rize
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 9:10

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