Learn English – Not until ( sentence ) + do (sentence)

grammar

Can someone explain the structure of the following sentence?

  • It was not until hours later did I find him.

Does it have anything to do with emphasis ?

Best Answer

The sentence is not grammatical. It should either be

It was not until hours later that I found him.

or

Not until hours later did I find him.

This structure indeed emphasizes the temporal adverb. It means the same thing as

I didn't find him until hours later. (= I found him hours later)

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