(1) ①after与before, until, as soon as, when(在某些情况下)和if(在某些情况下) 一样，引导的句子中不能用将来时，而用现在时表示将来的意义。

I'll phone you (up) after I arrive/have arrived.

我到了之后就给你打电话。

②after通常不作副词用，而代之以afterwards, (and) then, and after that。

I'm going to do my homework first; afterwards/and then, I'm going to do some washing. 我打算先做作业，然后洗衣服。

(2) ①afterwards(美式英语中亦用作afterward)，意思是“后来，在这/那以后”，用作副词，不能用作连接词。

He said to me afterwards, “Thank you for coming.”

后来他对我说：“感谢你的到来。”

I'd rather you knew that now, than afterwards.

我宁愿你现在就知道那件事，而不是在这以后。

②afterwards有时指以后的整个时间。

They lived happily together ever afterwards.

以后他们一直幸福地生活在一起。

③afterwards 可与另一个表示时间的词或短语连用。

And two days afterwards (later) he left his home for the United States.

两天之后，他离家去了美国。

I went to send the fax immediately afterwards.

之后我马上去发了传真。

(3) later常指具体的时间之后，往往以过去的(有时是现在的) 时间或事件为基准。

I'll call on you a few days later. 几天后我将拜访您。

I saw him on Monday and he left for Japan two days after. (较常用later)

我是星期一见到他的，两天之后他动身去了日本。