We investigate the asymptotic properties of all solutions of the functional differential equatioṅ x(t) = p(t)[x(t) − kx(t − τ (t))] + q(t), t ∈ I = [t 0 , ∞), where k = 0 is a scalar and τ (t) is an unbounded delay. Under certain restrictions we relate the asymptotic behaviour of the solutions x(t) of this equation to the behaviour of a solution ϕ(t) of the auxiliary functional nondifferential equation ϕ(t) = |k| ϕ(t − τ (t)), t ∈ I.