before and in front of

jiang · #1 11-May-2005, 03:46

Dear teachers,

I found when referring to position "before" and "in front of" very confusing.
One of the definition of before used as a prep. in the dictionary are: a) ahead of someone or something else in a list or order. The example given is "I think you were before me in the queue". This is easy to understand because the condition should be that there are more than one person or thing. b) in the same place, or in front of a person or crowd of people. The example given is "The accident took place right before my eyes. Then please read the sentence "She stood before the window". My questions are:

1. Since window is something why "before" is used here?

2. Can I replace "before" with "in front of" ? If I can does it mean there is no difference between the two?

3. Please refer to my first example "I think you were before me in the queue" can I replace "before" with "in front of"?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

**Tdol** · #2 11-May-2005, 07:50

You could say 'in front of me' in the queue example, though the use of 'before' sounds a bit more polite. With the window example- we do use 'stand before'. If the window were a special window, it would make sense- I'd use stand before with something more remarkable than, say, a grocer's shop.

jiang · #3 11-May-2005, 13:57

Dear todl,

Thank you for your explanation. So I can use "in front of" in the window example. Is that right?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdol

You could say 'in front of me' in the queue example, though the use of 'before' sounds a bit more polite. With the window example- we do use 'stand before'. If the window were a special window, it would make sense- I'd use stand before with something more remarkable than, say, a grocer's shop.