after: adverb
1 shortly after etc.
After can be used in adverb phrases like shortly after, long after, a few days after etc.
We had oysters for supper. Shortly after. I began to feel ill.
In more exact expressions of time, later is more common.
They started the job on the 16th and finished three weeks later.
2 after not used alone
After is not normally used alone as an adverb. Instead, we use other expressions like afterwards (ArnE also afterwardl, then or after that.
I'm going to do my exams, and afterwards I'm going to study medicine.
after: conjunction
after + clause, + clause
clause + after + clause
1- use and position
The conjunction after joins one clause to another. After and its clause can come either before or after the other clause.
After I left school, I went to America.
I went to America after I left school.
(In both cases the speaker left school first and then went to America. In the second example. the after-clause is given more importance because it comes at the end. Note the comma in the first structure.)
After he did military service. he went to university.
(He did military service first.)
He did military service after he went to university.
(He went to university first.)
2 present with future meaning
We use after with a present tense to talk about the future
I'll telephone you after I arrive.
3 perfect tenses
In clauses with after. we often use present and past perfect tenses to show that one thing is completed before another starts.
I'll telephone you after I've seen Jake.
After I had finished school, I went to America.
4 after .. .ing
In a formal style, we often use the structure after + -ing.
After completing this form, give it to the secretary.
After having + past participle is also possible when talking about the past.
He wrote his first book after returning I having returned from Mongolia.
after all
1 two meanings
After all can mean 'in spite of what was said before' or 'contrary to what was expected'. Position: usually at the end of a clause.
I'm sorry. I know I said I would help you, but I can't after all.
I expected to fail the exam, but I passed after all
Another meaning is 'we mustn't forget that .. .', introducing an argument or reason which may have been forgotten. Position: at the beginning or end of a clause.
Of course you're tired. After all, you were up all night.
Let's finish the cake. Somebody's got to eat it, after all
2 not used for 'finally'
After all does not mean 'finally', 'at last', 'in the end'.
After the theatre we had supper and went to a nightclub; then we finally went home.
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