A to and till/until

to can be used of time and place; till/until of time only. We can use from... to or from... till/until:

They worked from five to ten/from five till ten. (at five to ten would mean 'at 9.55'.) But if we have no from we use till/until, not to:

Let's start now and work till dark, (to would not be possible here.) till/until is often used with a negative verb to emphasize lateness:

We didn't get home till 2 a.m.

He usually pays me on Friday but last week he didn't pay me till the following Monday. till/until is very often used as a conjunction of time: We 'II stay here till it stops raining.

Go on till you come to the level crossing. But note that if 'you come to' is omitted, the till must be replaced by to:

Go on to the level crossing.

B after and afterwards (adverb)

after (preposition) must be followed by a noun, pronoun or gerund:

Don't bathe immediately after a meal/after eating.

Don't have a meal and bathe immediately after it. If we do not wish to use a noun/pronoun or gerund, we cannot use after, but must use afterwards (= after that) or then:

Don't have a meal and bathe immediately afterwards.

They bathed and afterwards played games/played games afterwards or

They bathed and then played games.

afterwards can be used at either end of the clause and can be modified by soon, immediately, not long etc.:

Soon afterwards we got a letter.

We got a letter not long afterwards. after can also be used as a conjunction:

After he had tuned the piano it sounded quite different.

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