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I am confused about the following sentence:

"By the sophomore year, the student should apply for special education services"

Does it mean the students should do it before the 2nd year begins or just after OR it should be done before the end of the 2nd year?

In typical examples, like: "I need to do it by tomorrow" or "By the time we got there, the film had started" it doesn't seem to matter, but what if the period is a year?

EDIT: There's been an error on my part. The original sentence reads:

"By senior year, and/or prior to age 18, apply for..."

though the question remains...

EDIT2: There's actually more examples: See https://books.google.pl/books?id=FS0cAlDkRnEC&printsec=frontcover&hl=pl#v=onepage&q&f=false

pages 30-31.

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  • What is the source of your example? It seems strange to me.
    – Greybeard
    Commented Apr 7, 2020 at 8:49
  • My memory. But I checked and it reads exactly as follows: By senior year, and/or prior to age 18, apply for..." ("Preparing For Life" - J. Baker). Sorry. But the question still stands, right?
    – Jules Cocovin
    Commented Apr 7, 2020 at 8:59
  • Thanks: with the context, the whole sentence now makes sense, (although it should be "By the senior year,"). By in this sense = before or at the time of. "By" is used in conjunction with a time phrase that is either limited or has an implied limit, rather than a duration.
    – Greybeard
    Commented Apr 7, 2020 at 9:28
  • To be crystal clear here (this is for translating purposes, so I need to choose my words wisely in the target language) "By the senior year" = "Before the senior year begins or on the first days of the senior year, but not when the senior year is in full swing"?
    – Jules Cocovin
    Commented Apr 7, 2020 at 9:51
  • 'The students should apply by June' is fine, but re-ordering doesn't work: *'By June, the students should apply'. I'd agree with @Greybeard that the sentence here is infelicitous.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Apr 7, 2020 at 14:05

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“by” + time expression

The meaning of this structure is:  not later than; before or at a particular time

We use this structure for deadlines. A deadline is the time before which something must be done.

  1. Please send us the payment by tomorrow.
  2. Students must enrol by the end of June.

The use of by allows the person performing the task to complete it any time up until the specified time.

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  • "Students must enrol by June." - before June, 1 or June, 30?
    – Jules Cocovin
    Commented Apr 7, 2020 at 9:13
  • @JulesCocovin The use of by allows the person performing the task to complete it any time up until the specified time. Therefore , it means till of the june.
    – Alka Yadav
    Commented Apr 7, 2020 at 10:38
  • "till of the june" - you mean "till the end of June"? OR "till June"?
    – Jules Cocovin
    Commented Apr 7, 2020 at 13:30
  • Sorry I failed to mention it there ...till the end of june
    – Alka Yadav
    Commented Apr 7, 2020 at 13:32
  • OK, I see, now. Thank you for your contribution.
    – Jules Cocovin
    Commented Apr 7, 2020 at 13:48

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