These words look simple and carry precise meanings that matter when money or deadlines are involved.
Deadlines
- by Friday — any time up to and including Friday
- on Friday — that specific day
- until Friday — continuing up to Friday
- before Friday — Thursday at the latest
- EOD — end of day
- COB — close of business
"Send it by Friday" and "work on it until Friday" ask for very different things.
Availability
- "I'm free after three."
- "I'm tied up all morning."
- "I'm out of office next week."
- "I've got a hard stop at four." — must finish exactly then
- "Does Tuesday work for you?"
Scheduling
- "Let's pencil it in for Thursday." — tentative
- "Shall we lock that in?" — confirm
- "Can we push it back an hour?" — later
- "Can we move it up?" — earlier
Prepone is used across India and understood nowhere else. Say "move it up" or "bring it forward".
When things slip
- "We're running behind."
- "It's slipped by a week."
- "We're cutting it fine."
- "We're ahead of schedule." — the good version
Frequency
- fortnightly — every two weeks (British; less used in the US)
- biweekly — ambiguous, means twice a week or every two weeks. Avoid it.
- quarterly — every three months
Where a date matters, write it out: "by Friday 14 August, end of day". Ambiguity in scheduling is expensive.
