postpone the date of an exam

[ostap77]

1)"They put the date of an exam two days forward."

OR

2)"They brought the date of an exam two days forward."

OR

3)"They put the date of an exam three days behind."

OR

4)"They put the date of an exam three days back."

OR

5)"They brought the date of an exam three days backward.'

Which one is correct? Any other verbs we mght use in this context?

 

[ostap77]

1)"They put the date of an exam two days forward."

OR

2)"They brought the date of an exam two days forward."

OR

3)"They put the date of an exam three days behind."

OR

4)"They put the date of an exam three days back."

OR

5)"They brought the date of an exam three days backward.'

Which one is correct? Any other verbs we mght use in this context?

I would appreciate a comment that would helpme clarify it.

 

[bhaisahab]

1)"They put the date of an exam two days forward."

OR

2)"They brought the date of an exam two days forward." This is OK.

OR

3)"They put the date of an exam three days behind."

OR

4)"They put the date of an exam three days back." This is OK.

OR

5)"They brought the date of an exam three days backward.'

Which one is correct? Any other verbs we mght use in this context?

.

 

[RMislander]

I am inclined to agree with bhaisahab.

Other verbs you can use are:


They moved up the date of the exam by two days.

They pushed back the date of the exam by two days.

They moved back the date of the exam by two days.

They postponed the date of the exam by two days.

(Interestingly, "advance" can mean to push back or to make something happen earlier, so I would be cautious of using "advance" in this case).

 

[ostap77]

I am inclined to agree with bhaisahab.

Other verbs you can use are:


They moved up the date of the exam by two days.

They pushed back the date of the exam by two days.

They moved back the date of the exam by two days.

They postponed the date of the exam by two days.

(Interestingly, "advance" can mean to push back or to make something happen earlier, so I would be cautious of using "advance" in this case).

Is it possible to use a verb "shift'' in this context?

Which one would be a better option for you "move" or "put with bring"?

 

[RMislander]

I suppose you could use "shift," but it sounds better to use this with an exact date.

"I shifted the exam dates to April 1st." You can shift something to make it earlier or later.


I don't know what you mean by "put with bring."

I also don't know about the "best" option here. "Move up" and "push back" are the clearest to me, but it could be different for others.

 

[Munch]

I am inclined to agree with bhaisahab.

Other verbs you can use are:


They moved up the date of the exam by two days.

They pushed back the date of the exam by two days.

They moved back the date of the exam by two days.

They postponed the date of the exam by two days.

(Interestingly, "advance" can mean to push back or to make something happen earlier, so I would be cautious of using "advance" in this case).

This is a really important point. "Postponed by two days" is certainly unambiguous, but phrases like "moved forward two days" can be interpreted in two different ways - two days earlier or two days later. Interestingly, how you interpret these sentences depends on the way you percieve time and even more interestingly, angrier people tend to interpret "moved forward two days" as meaning "postponed two days".

 

[RMislander]

That's definitely true. However, I think "moved up" (as opposed to "moved forward") is unambiguous, but perhaps others may not feel that way?

 

[Tdol]

What about prepone?

 

[Munch]

What about prepone?

Wow, it says that word is used in Indian English. This is one of those cases where I wish a word was part of standard English, just because it is so useful. "Y'all" is another example that springs to mind.