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First sentence from this [NHK news
article](https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210528/k10013055391000.html),

>
> 東京都が、警察と消防の職員に行うワクチン接種は、会場の築地市場の跡地がオリンピック・パラリンピックの輸送車両の拠点となっていることから、大会の準備が本格化する
> **前まで** しか使えず、1回目の接種を受けた全員が、この場所で2回目を受けられないことが分かりました。

I don't fully understand the nuance of 前まで here. How the meaning would change
if 前 or まで is used alone instead? My take is that まで is used to emphasize 前,
so「大会の準備が本格化する前までしか使えず」mean something like "(the vaccination site) can be only
used _even_ before Olympic preparations get serious, so..." Is that correct
way to interpret 前まで?
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2021-05-28T09:49:37.623
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question
grammar nuances particle-まで
What is the nuance of「前まで」?
It seems to me that the phrase 前までしか in this sentence is practically
equivalent to 前しか or までしか. So this phrase sounds a little awkward to me. It
will be safe to say that 前 is used to emphasize まで, or, in other words, to
avoid the misunderstanding of the context because almost all the Japanese do
not know the exact schedule of 大会の準備が本格化する.
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2021-05-28T10:35:03.637
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answer
I think しか is complicating the situation.

本格化するまで使える sounds natural but 本格化するまでしか使えない is a bit awkward. In the former,
本格化する unambiguously marks the end of the period during which the vaccination
site can be used. The latter also expects the part before まで to mark the end
of the same period but, for some reason, the verb 本格化する doesn’t seem to meet
this requirement as much as it does in 本格化するまで使える. This may be because
本格化するまでしか使えない, with a negative predicate, shifts focus to the subsequent
period during which the site _cannot_ be used and 本格化する seems to mark the
start of it, rather than the end of the earlier period during which the site
_can_ be used. To come to think of it, even in 本格化するまで使える the bound seems to
be exclusive. In any case, 前 comes in to solve this problem by placing an
explicit end point immediately before the point at which 本格化 begins in 本格化する
**前** までしか使えない.

In contrast, a phrase like ６月までしか使えない, with a noun before まで, sounds very
natural. In this case, the bound is inclusive. I could not come up with a
single example with a verb that sounded as natural.

本格化する前しか使えない would blur the end of the period.

* * *

[EDIT]

The awkwardness of 本格化するまでしか使えない may be simply because `しか-[V ない-form]`
doesn't take another verb before it (unless the verb after しか is auxiliary
する). Although まで nominalizes a verb in a sentence like ［本格化するまで］が大変だ, it may
not be noun enough in this case. Being a clearer noun, 前 solves this problem,
too.
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answer