until(till)之后不可以接-ing分句吗？

L. G. Alexander著 Longman English Grammar《朗文英语语法》(雷航等译，外语教学与研究出版社1991年1月第1版) p61：

现在分词可以用于时间连词after, before, since, when和while之后，但不能用于像 as, as soon as, directly, until等连词之后（原文：Present participles can be use after the time conjunctions after before since when and while. They cannot use after as, as soon as, directly, until etc.――L. G. Alexander Longman English Grammar 1988）

实际上，L. G. Alexander的说法是不符合英语实际情况的，这不能不说是Longman English Grammar的一个瑕疵。因为另外四位顶尖级的英语语法专家Randolph Quirk，Sidney Greenbaum，Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik早于1985年就在其合著的A COMPREHENSIVE GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE p1078就明确表示：

Adverbial -ing clauses of time are introduced by one of the following subordinators: once, till, until, when, whenever, while, whilt (作时间状语的-ing分句由下列从属连词之一引导)：once, till, until, when, whenever, while, whilt。随后由特别指出Some speakers find until only marginally acceptable with -ing clause (有些人觉得until + -ing分句仅勉强可以接受)：

? Until meeting your parents, I had no idea that you were annoyed with me.

? I’ll wait here until hearing from you again.

由此可见，这四位专家认为until 之后可以接 -ing分句，不然其中的两位专家Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk就不会于1997年在其合著的Longman A STUDENT’S GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE即《朗文英语语法》(宋玉梅等译，吉林教育出版社2003年4月第1版) p393上再次强调：

作时间状语的-ing分句由以下从属连词引导：once, till, until, when, whenever, while和whilt (尤见于英式英语)

几乎就在同时，另外一位语法专家 Sylvia Chalker 于1996年在其著作Collins Cobuild English Guides 之Linking Words即《连词》(刘万存译，外文出版社2001年4月第1版) p19上认为：when, after, since, before, until 和while可引导-ing小句。

The 65-year-old accepted his judgment until hearing a radio broadcast in 1988 about a similar case.

再者，萧凤歧编著的《现代英语惯用法实例词典》（北京理工大学出版社 1989 年10月第一版）p799上也认为until 可引导-ing分句：有人认为until that-clause不能压缩为verb-ing形式的短语，但实际上这样使用until的实例却不少，这不能都说成“英美人常有的错误”。请看：

Trans American Airlines Flight Two was twenty minutes out of Lincoln Internatinal, and in a steady climb which would continue until reaching thirty-three thousand feet near Detroit, in eleven more minutes.

…he had scarcely ever drunk tea at all until knowing Gwen.

He even tried to persuade me to go, where before I had been earnestly recommended not to go, until finding I would not.

上述用法有个规律，即verb-ing形式的逻辑主语须是主句的语法主语。

除了英语语法专家的著作可以证明until 之后可以接-ing分句之外，英国英语中的大量真实事例也可以证明until 之后可以接-ing分句。请看例证：BNC(英国国家语料库http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk):和BUY-BNC BRTISH NATIONAL CORPUS (UK,1980s-1993) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University ) http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/：

CB4 Geoff took up Vet running at a serious level two or three years ago and has forged through the ranks until arriving at the top of the O50s this season.

H09 Arriving in this country they established themselves as farmers and in the early 19th century they farmed at Allington Castle and then travelled through various parts of England as farmers until arriving back in Kent.

H9X I was fortunate enough to obtain permission to go, but I had waited until arriving at Rizé before applying for it.

ASC But he was going to have to wait until reaching England before he had the chance to branch into opera production.

CLV Keeping the aircraft low, and as level as he dared, he raced over the target as the bombs fell away, and kept going at rooftop height until reaching the outer suburbs of the city.

JY5 She had never even met him until coming to the club.

J1B Both aircraft head-to-head at Farnborough were built in 1944 at the Oklahoma City plant, but beyond that they went very separate ways until meeting up in the UK in September, both toting turboprops.