14 years prior
Beneath is a part of an article about Arnold Schwarzenegger. My uncertainty concerns the 14 YEARS PRIOR part of the text:
'The action hero film star is attempting to make a major comeback after the negative publicity he suffered following his separation from longtime wife Maria Shriver in 2011 and his admission that he fathered a child with the couple's housekeeper 14 YEARS PRIOR.'
My question: is my assumption correct, and that PRIOR instead of, say, BEFORE, indicates a certain amount of time that has passed prior to a specific point in the timeline (2011 in that case) which is NOT TODAY?
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الإجابات · 4
1
This is an interesting question and I would answer differently as a US native. This use of "prior" is common in everyday speech, most often heard, as here, in a news story. "Prior " is just a shortening of "prior to (some other event already mentioned.).
1
Yes, your assumption is correct. It happened 14 years before 2011.
1
This is an odd use of the word 'prior'.
Prior is an adjective - as in 'prior knowledge', for example - and can be used in phrases such as 'prior to', meaning 'before'.
It is very unusual to see it used in this way as an adverb. I found one dictionary entry with this adverbial use, and it was labelled 'colloquial'.
So, I wouldn't worry about this, if I were you. I wouldn't go so far as to say it is wrong, but let's just call this a 'non-standard' use, and replace it with the adverb 'previously'.
0
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