Hello to everyone! Could you clarify for me please, whether the sentece is correct or not?

"Is it an angel I see before me?"

Is the preposition BEFORE correct here? I've heard it in a movie in English and I'm really confused. I thought it is more correct to say IN FRONT OF ME, since "before" refers to the passage of time, no?)

Question

Hello to everyone! Could you clarify for me please, whether the sentece is correct or not?
 
"Is it an angel I see before me?"

Is the preposition BEFORE correct here? I've heard it in a movie in English and I'm really confused. I thought it is more correct to say IN FRONT OF ME, since "before" refers to the passage of time, no?)

Answer

From Macbeth, by one William Shakespeare:
“Is this a dagger which I see before me..”

Answer

The sentence is correct, but it is very poetic. You probably won't hear it from a person in day-to-day conversation. :)

Answer

Hi Alexandra,

Yes, it is correct.

It has a very pleasing and melodic sound. So great for poetry and theater.

Sometimes in poetry and music we can rearrange the structure of a sentence to sound more pleasant.

Before can also mean in "In front of" and therefore, "Is it an angel I see in front of me?".

Take care.

Answer

Thank you to everyone. Everything is clear now)

Answer

It's kind of a common way to sound poetic or romantic.

In usual language, we'd just say 'is that an angel?" or "are you an angel?"

But "is it an angel I see before me?" sounds very poetic and charming.

Answers · 5

Still haven’t found your answers?

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!