And vs Before - What's the difference?

and | before |

As a proper noun and

is .

As a preposition before is

earlier than (in time).

As an adverb before is

at an earlier time.

As a conjunction before is

in advance of the time when.

and

English

(wikipedia and)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) and, an, from (etyl) and, ond, .

Alternative forms

* et (obsolete)

Conjunction

(English Conjunctions)

As a coordinating conjunction; expressing two elements to be taken together or in addition to each other.

#Used simply to connect two noun phrases, adjectives or adverbs.

#* c. 1430' (reprinted '''1888 ), Thomas Austin, ed., ''Two Fifteenth-century Cookery-books. Harleian ms. 279 (ab. 1430), & Harl. ms. 4016 (ab. 1450), with Extracts from Ashmole ms. 1429, Laud ms. 553, & Douce ms. 55 [Early English Text Society, Original Series; 91], London: 374760, page 11:

Soupes dorye. — Take gode almaunde mylke

#*:

#*:In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

#*1817 , (Jane Austen), Persuasion :

#*:as for Mrs. Smith, she had claims of various kinds to recommend her quickly and permanently.

#*2011 , Mark Townsend, The Guardian , 5 November:

#*:‘The UKBA has some serious explaining to do if it is routinely carrying out such abusive and unlawful inspections.’

#Simply connecting two clauses or sentences.

#*1991 , (Jung Chang), Wild Swans :

#*:When she saw several boys carrying a huge wooden case full of porcelain, she mumbled to Jinming that she was going to have a look, and left the room.

#*2011 , Helena Smith & Tom Kington, The Guardian , 5 November:

#*:"Consensus is essential for the country," he said, adding that he was not "tied" to his post and was willing to step aside.

#Introducing a clause or sentence which follows on in time or consequence from the first.

#*1996 , David Beasley, Chocolate for the Poor :

#*:‘But if you think you can get it, Christian, you're a fool. Set one foot upcountry and I'll kill you.’

#*2004 , Will Buckley, The Observer :, 22 August:

#*:One more error and all the good work she had done on Friday would be for nought.

#(label) Yet; but.

#*1611 , Authorised (King James) Version, Bible , Matthew XXII:

#*:Hee said, I goe sir, and went not.

#Used to connect certain numbers: connecting units when they precede tens (not dated); connecting tens and units to hundreds, thousands etc. (now chiefly UK); to connect fractions to wholes.

#*1863 , (Abraham Lincoln), ‘Gettysburg Address’:

#*:Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that "all men are created equal".

#*:In Chicago these latter were receiving, for the most part, eighteen and a half cents an hour, and the unions wished to make this the general wage for the next year.

#*1956 , (Dodie Smith), (title):

#*:The One Hundred and One Dalmatians.

# Used to connect more than two elements together in a chain, sometimes to stress the number of elements.

#*1623 , (William Shakespeare), Julius Caesar , First Folio, II.2:

#*:And these does she apply, for warnings and' portents, / ' And euils imminent; and on her knee / Hath begg'd, that I will stay at home to day.

#*1939 , Langley, Ryerson & Woolf, The Wizard of Oz (screenplay):

#*:Lions, and' tigers, ' and bears! Oh, my!

#Connecting two identical elements, with implications of continued or infinite repetition.

#*1611 , Authorised (King James) Version, Bible , Psalms CXLV:

#*:I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.

#*2011 , Jonathan Watts, The Guardian , 18 March:

#*:He was at work in a nearby city when the tsunami struck. ‘As soon as I saw it, I called home. It rang and rang, but there was no answer.’

#Introducing a parenthetical or explanatory clause.

#*1918 , , Prime Ministers and Some Others :

#*:The word "capable" occurs in Mr. Fisher's Bill, and rightly, because our mental and physical capacities are infinitely varied.

#*2008 , The Guardian , 29 Jan 2008:

#*:President Pervez Musharraf is undoubtedly sincere in his belief that he, and he alone, can save Pakistan from the twin perils of terrorism and anarchy.

#Introducing the continuation of narration from a previous understood point; also used alone as a question: ‘and so what?’.

#*1611 , Authorised (King James) Version, Bible , Revelation XIV:

#*:And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.

#*1861 , (Charles Dickens), Great Expectations :

#*:‘You take it smoothly now,’ said I, ‘but you were very serious last night, when you swore it was Death.’ ‘And so I swear it is Death,’ said he, putting his pipe back in his mouth.

#*1914 , (Saki), ‘The Lull’, Beasts and Superbeasts :

#*:‘And , Vera,’ added Mrs. Durmot, turning to her sixteen-year-old niece, ‘be careful what colour ribbon you wear in your hair.’

#*1817 , (Jane Austen), Sanditon :

#*:Beyond paying her a few charming compliments and amusing her with gay conversation, had he done anything at all to try and gain her affection?

#*1989 , (James Kelman), A Disaffection :

#*:Remember and help yourself to the soup! called Gavin.

#Introducing a qualitative difference between things having the same name; "as well as other".

#*1936 , The Labour Monthly , vol. XVIII:

#*:Undoubtedly every party makes mistakes. But there are mistakes and mistakes.

#*1972 , Esquire , vol. LXXVIII:

#*:"There are managers and there are managers," he tells me. "I'm totally involved in every aspect of Nina's career."

#Used to combine numbers in addition; plus (with singular or plural verb).

#*1791 , (James Boswell), Life of Samuel Johnson :

#*:‘Nobody attempts to dispute that two and two make four: but with contests concerning moral truth, human passions are generally mixed.’

#*1871 , (Lewis Carroll), Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There :

#*:‘Can you do Addition?’ the White Queen asked. ‘What's one and' one '''and''' one '''and''' one '''and''' one '''and''' one '''and''' one '''and''' one '''and''' one ' and one?’

(label) Expressing a condition.

#*1485 , Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur , Book VII:

#*:"Where ys Sir Launcelot?" seyde King Arthure. "And he were here, he wolde nat grucche to do batayle for you."

#*1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , Matthew XIV:

#*:Peter answered, and sayde: master, and thou be he, bidde me come unto the on the water.

#*1958 , (Shirley Ann Grau), The Hard Blue Sky :

#*:"And he went slower," Mike said softly, "he go better."

#(label) As if, as though.

#*1600 , (William Shakespeare), A Midsummer Night's Dream , I.2:

#*:I will roare you, and 'twere any Nightingale.

#(label) Even though.

#*Francis Bacon

#*:As they will set an house on fire, and it were but to roast their eggs.

Quotations

* (English Citations of "and")

Usage notes

(Usage notes)

Beginning a sentence with and or other coordinating conjunctions is considered incorrect by classical grammarians arguing that a coordinating conjunction at the start of a sentence has nothing to connect, but use of the word in this way is very common. The practice will be found in literature from Anglo-Saxon times onwards, especially as an aid to continuity in narrative and dialogue. The OED'' provides examples from the 9^th century to the 19^th century, including one from Shakespeare’s ''King John:'' “''Arthur''. Must you with hot Irons, burne out both mine eyes? ''Hubert.'' Young boy, I must. ''Arthur''. And will you? ''Hubert . And I will.” It is also used for other rhetorical purposes, especially to denote surprise
(O John! and you have seen him! And are you really going?—1884 in OED )
and sometimes just to introduce an improvised afterthought
(I’m going to swim. And don’t you dare watch—G. Butler, 1983)
It is, however, poor style to separate short statements into separate sentences when no special effect is needed: I opened the door and I looked into the room'' (not *''I opened the door. And I looked into the room''). Combining sentences or starting with ''in addition'' or ''moreover is preferred in formal writing.
is often omitted for contextual effects of various kinds, especially between sequences of descriptive adjectives which can be separated by commas or simply by spaces
(The teeming jerrybuilt dun-coloured traffic-ridden deafening city—Penelope Lively, 1987)
is a well-established tag added to the end of a statement, as in
Isn’t it amazing? He has a Ph.D. and all—J. Shute, 1992
With the nominal meaning “also, besides, in addition”, the use has origins in dialect, as can be seen from the material from many regions given in the English Dialect Dictionary (often written in special ways, e.g., ). In many of the examples it seems to lack any perceptible lexical meaning and to be just a rhythmical device to eke out a sentence.

Synonyms

* (used to connect two similar words or phrases) as well as, together with, in addition to * (informal)

Etymology 2

From (etyl) ande, from (etyl) .

Alternative forms

* aynd, eind, eynd, yane, end

Noun

(en noun)

Breath.

Sea-mist; water-smoke.

Etymology 3

From (etyl) anden, from (etyl) . See above.

Alternative forms

* eind, eynd, ein

Verb

(en verb)

To breathe; whisper; devise; imagine.

Statistics

Anagrams

* 100 English basic words English coordinating conjunctions 1000 English basic words ----

before

English

Preposition

(English prepositions)

Earlier than (in time).

* (Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)

Before this treatise can become of use, two points are necessary.

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner.}}

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=November 11, author=Rory Houston, work=RTE Sport

, title= Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland , passage=Stephen Ward then had to time his tackle excellently to deny Tarmo Kink as the Wolves winger slid the ball out of play before the Estonian could attempt to beat Given.}}

In front of in space.

* (John Milton) (1608-1674)

His angel, who shall go / Before them in a cloud and pillar of fire.

He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance.she found her mother standing up before the seat on which she had sat all the evening searching anxiously for her with her eyes, and her father by her side.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=September-October, author=(Henry Petroski)

, magazine=(American Scientist), title= The Evolution of Eyeglasses , passage=The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.}}

Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone).

* (John Ayliffe) (1676-1732)

If a suit be begun before an archdeacon

In store for, in the future of (someone).

* (Thomas Carlyle) (1795-1881)

The golden ageis before us.

In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items.

At a higher or greater position in a ranking.

* (Bible), (w) i. 15

He that cometh after me is preferred before me.

* (Samuel Johnson) (1709-1784)

The eldest son is before the younger in succession.

Synonyms

* (earlier than in time) by, no later than * (in front of in space) ahead of, in front of * (in front of according to an ordering system) ahead of

Antonyms

* (earlier than in time) after, later than * (in front of in space) behind * (in front of according to an ordering system) after

Adverb

(-)

At an earlier time.

* , chapter=12

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion—or rather as a transition from the subject that started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place.}}

In advance.

At the front end.

* 1896 , (Hilaire Belloc), The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts , :

When people call this beast to mind,
They marvel more and more
At such a (little) tail behind,
So LARGE a trunk before .

Synonyms

* (at an earlier time) previously * (in advance) ahead * (at the front end) in front

Antonyms

* (at an earlier time) after * (at the front end) behind

Derived terms

* beforehand * beforetime

Conjunction

(English Conjunctions)

in advance of the time when

(informal) rather or sooner than

Synonyms

* (rather than) lest

References

* Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition , Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

Statistics

* English locatives English sequence adverbs 1000 English basic words