Speech literacy determines not only the grammatical matching of words with each other using all the rules, the correct use of endings or the spelling of the correct letter (or the correct number of letters) in a word. Speech literacy largely implies the correct use of certain words, because often words that are very similar at first glance have their own subtleties that any literate person needs to know about.
The correct use of this or that word is largely due not only to its lexical meaning, but also to stylistic features, as well as the existing context. The use of the words "earlier" and "earlier" no less often raises questions, answers to which can be obtained by understanding the intricacies of their meanings and the peculiarities of use in oral and written speech. This can be helped by specially crafted rules, as well as reading numerous examples, remembering stable phrases that occur “earlier” and “earlier”.
Is there a difference in meaning?
In general, the words “earlier” and “earlier” have no significant differences in their lexical meaning, being forms of a comparative degree from the adverb “early”. That is, both one and the other refers to temporary concepts. Consider the basic meanings of words. For the word "earlier" the main meanings are as follows:
- Before any event or until any moment.
- In the past.
- First, first (colloquial option).
The word "earlier" has the following basic meanings:
- Until some point or time.
- Until some point.
- It can be considered as a comparative degree from the adjective "early" (here this value is of no interest).
As you can see, there is no difference in lexical meanings. So what influences the choice "earlier or earlier"?
Stylistic differences
As mentioned above, often the choice between words is influenced not only and not so much by their lexical meaning, but by stylistic features, the subtleties of their use in a particular context. For a given pair of words, this statement is also true. It is the style of speech that affects which word should be used: “earlier” or “earlier”.
"Earlier" is a more official book version. This is exactly the word that can be found in the wording of documents, for example, “we have previously noted”, “for previously worked out rewarding”. The word "earlier" is often used in colloquial speech, is used in oral everyday communication. Often consumed in terms such as "prematurely . "
Examples of using the word "earlier" in sentences
For a better understanding, when the word "earlier" should be used, a number of examples from fiction and official documents will be given below.
- Suddenly, all the pleasure of a transaction completed a little earlier, which turned out to be more than successful, disappeared. (Annie West, "In the Embrace of a Stranger").
- This building is located on a land plot that has been put on cadastral registration as previously recorded.
- Many scientists come to this conclusion, even those who previously held other positions. (O. V. Leontiev, "Responsibility for crimes committed by medical personnel).
- Our body, as mentioned earlier, is a holistic system.
- This phenomenon was also seen two years earlier.
- The money he had previously given, he lowered everything to a penny, which made her very angry.
Use of the word "earlier" in sentences
The word "earlier", as already said, is more often found in oral speech or in fiction, if the author needs to "revive" the speech of his characters, fill it with emotional colors. Here, the examples will also be no less useful than in the previous paragraph, and a comparison of them will help to understand that, as such, the lexical difference between "earlier" and "earlier" is absent.
- Previously, it was carefully opened wide open so that the owl could fly in and fly out when it pleases, and is hooked on a wire hook. (Julia Galanina, The Missing Sword).
- Before, I did not know the most important thing about him.
- I used to give a damn about what will happen to me, but not now.
- Each of the assistants expressed something different, but the meaning was the same: “I thought about it before, but it was said so much about early diagnosis that gradually I stopped attaching importance to it.” (V.P. Morochko, “Stones and lightnings” )
- I did not want to tell you about this ahead of time.
How to choose the right one?
We can say that the choice between the words “earlier” and “earlier” is determined only by the situation in which it is to be used. Therefore, if we are talking about everyday life and ordinary everyday conversations, then the vernacular "earlier" will sound more appropriate. At the same time, in official documents, public speeches and literary works, stylistically high “earlier” will be the only “usable” option, since the speech situation itself does not imply the use of colloquial, reduced vocabulary.
Instead of a conclusion
The correct selection of words includes not only an account of the subtleties of their lexical meaning. Often the choice of a word is associated with the context, stylistic orientation of the text, emotional coloring of the word. Knowledge of such details can provide competent speech, which makes a favorable impression on most people around. In addition, good, correct speech can be useful in a number of situations, for example, when applying for a job, especially when it comes to those professions where a person is required to talk a lot with people or often write texts of different orientations.