Until Summer 2011.....

[Shai]

you're right i stop at eactly 8:00 not 8:01 or after. using your same example when it gets to 8 i stop. you are in spring which is 7:59. the first day of summer is 8:00.

As Vedis said, you specified an exact moment.

You could have stopped at 8:00:00, or 8:00:59, much like Yoshida's plan could include 00:01, June 21st, or 23:59, Sept 20th. The fact of the matter is that it includes at least some part of the summer, which is all I'm trying to express.

The more tiny you make the "time phrase" (until now, I was a real dood) the more specific the actual "change of continous action" occurs, but the more broad the time, the more unclear the moment of change becomes.

Next example:

"I'm writing a book. I will be working on it until 2012."
Do you understand this to mean that at some point in 2012 I will "stop working" on the book?

"I was working on this book until now!"
One nanosecond before I said "now" I was working on the book, but as I said now, the action changed.

The bigger or smaller the time narrows down the understanding of the "time when" but regardless of "time when" the action was continuous up until that point and then ceased to continue, or changed into a new action (or plan in this case).


Edit: Changed time to 8:00 for conversation cohesion. ^^