How to use "AS TIME WENT ON" [Live Lesson]

Stay at the pace of a course and continue following its lessons.

Tone and use: Neutral and practical. Use “keep up with” for maintaining progress with a class, schedule, news, or changing information.

May not fit: If you mean simply continuing after a break, “pick up where you left off” may be clearer.

Think about or reflect on an earlier time in your life.

Tone and use: Neutral; often used when comparing past and present. Use it with “on” or a time expression: “look back on those years” or “look back in ten years.”

May not fit: It is often figurative; use “turn around” if you mean physically looking behind you.

Gradually, while time passed; it links a change with the period during which it developed.

Tone and use: Neutral and common in conversation and writing. Use it with a past-tense change when describing something that developed over a completed period.

May not fit: If the process is still happening, “as time goes on” is usually the better tense.

Describes a past habit or state of spending a lot of time inactive, often sitting and watching television.

Tone and use: Informal and sometimes teasing or judgmental. Use it about yourself or in a light, familiar conversation about past inactivity.

May not fit: Avoid labeling someone else; “couch potato” can sound critical and may oversimplify their circumstances.

Feeling interested in or ready to study at that moment.

Tone and use: Everyday and conversational. Use “in the mood for” before a noun or an -ing activity: “in the mood for music” or “in the mood for studying.”

May not fit: It describes a current feeling, not whether someone is able or willing to study in general.

No longer; a former habit, situation, or feeling has stopped being true.

Tone and use: Conversational and often used as a short follow-up. Use it after explaining a past state that has changed: “I used to stay up late, but not anymore.”

May not fit: Make the earlier habit clear so the listener knows what “not anymore” refers to.

As time continues to pass; it presents the change as ongoing or expected to continue.

Tone and use: Neutral and common. Use it with present-tense language for a process that is still developing.

May not fit: For a completed past period, use “as time went on” or “as time went by.”

As time passes; a natural alternative to “as time goes on.”

Tone and use: Neutral and familiar. Use it for a change that continues or develops over time; choose tense to match your meaning.

May not fit: Do not use it to mean that time is literally walking past someone.

The speaker uses this to express the same general idea as “as time went on.”

Tone and use: Uncommon and not the usual natural phrasing in contemporary American English. Recognize it in this recording, but use “as time went on” or “as time went by” in your own neutral speech.

May not fit: Avoid presenting “as time grew on” as the standard alternative; “grow on” more commonly describes something gradually becoming more appealing.

Before a particular event or time.

Tone and use: Neutral and useful in instructions or planning. Use it when something should be prepared or completed beforehand.

May not fit: Name the event or deadline if the timing is not clear.