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I wonder if someone could tell me which choice works in the following sentence and why the others do not work: (From my point of view, all of these choices work in this context.)
They have great promotion till January 5th......50% off.
a) up to; b) until; c) by
Up to is correct. your sentence would look like this
They have **a** great promotion, **up to** 50% off.
Meaning on different products, discount is between 0 and 50 per cent.
until is also correct, if you change the sentence a bit, although the context changes.
They have **a** great promotion **from** January fifth, **till** January 8th, 50% off.
the 50% discount is available from January fifth till eighth.
I'll change this sentence a bit.
They have great promotional offer till January 5. Up to 50 percent off.
The preposition up to suggests a boundary, here it's 50 percent or less. But surely, not more than 50 percent.
Other words -
They have great promotional offer till January 5. Until 50 percent off -incorrect.
Until is used up to the point in time or the event mentioned. So you may say ...discount until January 5. or ...purchase as much as you can until the discount is offered.
They have great promotional offer till January 5. by 50 percent off -incorrect.
You have asked a similar question before and mcalex has explained it. Though to add something, we use by with percent often to compare the previous condition. For instance, With such a fabulous offer of discounts of 50 percent, their sales raised by 50 percent!"
