Wondering how to use Before in a sentence? Below are 10+ example sentences from authentic English texts. Including the meaning and synonyms such as earlier or ahead.
Before meaning
- Earlier than (in time).
- In front of in space.
- In the presence of.
Using Before
- The main meaning on this page is: Earlier than (in time). | In front of in space. | In the presence of.
- Useful related words include: earlier, ahead, in front.
- In the example corpus, before often appears in combinations such as: before the, before he, before that.
Context around Before
- Average sentence length in these examples: 33 words
- Position in the sentence: 12 start, 8 middle, 0 end
- Sentence types: 19 statements, 1 questions, 0 exclamations
Corpus analysis for Before
- In this selection, "before" usually appears near the start of the sentence. The average example has 33 words, and this corpus slice is mostly made up of statements.
- Around the word, months, clear, dark, bed, rescinding and 2017 stand out and add context to how "before" is used.
- Recognizable usage signals include to go before a land and 13 months before it began. That gives this page its own corpus information beyond isolated example sentences.
- By corpus frequency, "before" sits close to words such as these, last and many, which helps place it inside the broader word index.
Example types with before
The same corpus examples are grouped by length and sentence type, making it easier to see the contexts in which the word appears:
This was before streaming, before Netflix, before DVDs. (8 words)
Before taxes, before jobs, before you actually looked forward to the end of summer and the return of the school year? (21 words)
Before this release was version in August and then before that was in June 2024 and then before that was in February 2024. (23 words)
In the documentary, Kate says: “Derek’s care costs more than my salary from ITV and that is before you pay for a mortgage, before you pay any household bills, before you pay for anything for the kids, so we are at a crunch point. (45 words)
And I might read something into that if it hadn’t also been gamed out 7 months before it began, 13 months before it began, 19 months before it began, 25 months before it began, etc., at a very conservative estimate, for decades. (43 words)
Before Kevin Burkhardt was calling Super Bowls, before he was manning the Citi Field sidelines for SNY, and even before selling used cars in New Jersey, he was doing what so many others did every summer: Listening to baseball games on the radio. (43 words)
Before taxes, before jobs, before you actually looked forward to the end of summer and the return of the school year? (21 words)
Example sentences (20)
And I might read something into that if it hadn’t also been gamed out 7 months before it began, 13 months before it began, 19 months before it began, 25 months before it began, etc., at a very conservative estimate, for decades.
Sauickie said that before rescinding it, applications involving dormitories would have to go before a land use board for review and approval, as was the case before 2017 they still need to go before a land use board.
Sihler says that /l/ was clear before /i/ and dark before other vowels, but Allen says that /l/ was dark before back vowels in pre-Classical Latin and clear before both front and back vowels in Classical Latin.
The year before 1 AD, or 1 CE, is designated 1 Before Christ (BC), or 1 Before the Common Era (BCE), and the year before that is 2 BC/2 BCE, etc.; hence, there was no year 0 AD /0 CE.
Before Kevin Burkhardt was calling Super Bowls, before he was manning the Citi Field sidelines for SNY, and even before selling used cars in New Jersey, he was doing what so many others did every summer: Listening to baseball games on the radio.
Before taxes, before jobs, before you actually looked forward to the end of summer and the return of the school year?
Richard Linklater, the Oscar-nominated director of “Boyhood” and the “Before Sunrise,” “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight” trilogy, walked the red carpet for his steamy new comedic thriller “Hit Man” without stars Glen Powell and Adria Arjona.
The proposal will be before the council’s zoning subcommittee on Dec. 4 before coming back before the full council for a potential vote on the special permit request.
This was before streaming, before Netflix, before DVDs.
And despite their season only ending two weeks before the game, while Kerrykeel finished up two months before, it was the ’71 that started stronger before Cranford got into the game.
Before the sun rises, before most Charlestonians wake — before some even go to bed — Cornelius Casey Sr. and Cornelius Casey Jr. are already on the job.
Before the symphony’s epic conclusion, before a long standing ovation, before the soloists took their bows, Lykins took a moment to honor those who weren’t onstage.
Before this release was version in August and then before that was in June 2024 and then before that was in February 2024.
In the documentary, Kate says: “Derek’s care costs more than my salary from ITV and that is before you pay for a mortgage, before you pay any household bills, before you pay for anything for the kids, so we are at a crunch point.
The “3-2-1 rule,” which instructs folks to stop drinking three hours before bed, stop eating two hours before bed and stop drinking fluids of any kind one hour before bed.
Before the blonde bob and the Fox News job, before that job went to hell, and before Carlson blew the whistle on the widespread sexual harassment at Fox News, she was crowned Miss America in 1989.
Robert Halfon, the Tory chairman of the Commons education committee, said he wanted Sally Collier to appear before MPs next week, having accepted to come before the committee before her resignation.
The Crown had requested Bissonnette, who is now 29, serve 150 years before he is eligible for parole, which would have guaranteed Bissonnette would be dead before he could appear before the Parole Board of Canada.
The fact is that before his inaugural -- before his inauguration, the president tweeted about John Lewis, a black congressman that he should -- this is before his inauguration, he should spend time in his crime-infested district.
Ant-Man and the Wasp are prequels set before or during 's case, two decades before), and the Marvel TV series on Netflix have all set their second seasons in the time before the Avengers met Thanos.
Common combinations with before
These word pairs occur most frequently in English texts:
- before the 95×
- before he 19×
- before that 12×
- before his 12×
- shortly before 12×
- months before 10×
- before and 9×
- before it 8×
- before they 8×
- before you 8×