| 词组 | prior to |
| 释义 | prior to "Stilted," "affected," "formal," "incongruous," "stiff," and "clumsy" are among the adjectives that have been used by commentators to describe the use of prior to, with "formal" being the most common label. Before is the generally preferred substitute, "except in contexts involving a connexion between the two events more essential than the simple time relation," says Fowler 1926. Follett 1966 makes the same point more briefly: "prior to carries with it the idea of necessary precedence." This restricted use of prior to turns up in the following examples: • If guards are to be used, arrangements must exist prior to the emergency —Mary Margaret Hughes, Security World, May 1968 • ... make it mandatory for every passenger to be flu-oroscoped prior to boarding a plane —American Labor, September 1968 • ... a high-precision device that permits accurate positioning of the patient prior to exposure to the actual treatment —Annual Report, CIT Financial Corp., 1970 • ... her appointment would be terminated as of September 29, unless prior to that time she requested a hearing —AAUP Bulletin, September 1971 • ... if page makeup decisions are verified and approved prior to typesetting, proofreading of pages afterward becomes unnecessary —Publishers Weekly, 3 Dec. 1979 However, uses of prior to which emphasize the notion of anticipation are in the minority in the Merriam-Web-ster citation files. We find that prior to used simply as a synonym of before is more common. The phrase most often appears in rather formal contexts: • Its main wing is believed to have been built prior to 1669 —American Guide Series: NY. City, 1939 • Prior to the hurricane of 1893 there was a thriving settlement here —American Guide Series: Louisiana, 1941 • Just prior to the beginning of the academic year — Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Teacher, April 1965 • ... prior to Grant's appointment as Commander-in-Chief, three other generals had occupied this post and each had failed —Ralph F. Lewis, Arthur Young Jour., Autumn 1967 • ... $424,340 was used prior to year-end to purchase 6,463 shares —Annual Report, Owens-Illinois, 1970 • Prior to 1776, the Church of England ... was the established religion of Maryland —Asbury Smith, Maryland Mag., Autumn 1971 • ... in the centuries prior to their descent on Britain the tribes of north-west Germany were continuously on the move —D. J. V. Fisher, The Anglo-Saxon Age, 1973 Although Reader's Digest 1983 says prior to is "now accepted at all levels of usage," we lack citations which show its use in informal or personal contexts, where apparently it is avoided. The made-up examples of Krapp 1927 ("He always drinks a glass of milk prior to retiring") and Follett ("She twisted her ankle prior to getting home") seem not to be representative of actual usage. The evidence indicates that prior to does have formal connotations, but we do not agree with the commentators that before is always a better choice. In a formal or impersonal context prior to is perfectly appropriate. See also preparatory 2; previous to. |
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