up vote 4 down vote favorite
1

Identify the part of speech of the word in bold:

It will be five years before we meet again.

4 options:

  • Preposition
  • Adverb
  • Conjuction
  • Adjective

Now, According to my knowledge, "before" is an adverb. However the correct answer was - conjunction. What am I missing?

share|improve this question
up vote 12 down vote accepted

Traditionally, it's referred to as a "subordinating conjunction" because it introduces a subordinate clause.

But in modern grammar, it's analyzed as a preposition that takes a clause rather than a noun as a complement.

share|improve this answer
2  
Hooray, an accurate answer :-) – Araucaria Man yesterday
1  
Thanks for pointing out that there are multiple terminologies that use the same words to stand for different things. Almost certainly the OP is asking about traditional grammar. "Modern" (that is, scientific, esoteric) grammar uses the word "preposition" to denote words of a kind that in common usage are not called prepositions, such as "home". – Ben Kovitz 10 hours ago
    
@BenKovitz Oh, wow! I didn't even know that. Thanks for sharing tidbits. – user178049 10 hours ago
up vote 1 down vote

The word "before" is a preposition here. Refer to Oxford Dictionary and Cambridge Dictionary for grammar.

Before means During the period of time preceding (a particular event or time) and here's the explanation English Grammar Today:

Before as a preposition

We use before most commonly with noun phrases to refer to timed events.

However, "EnglishPractice" says that it is a conjunction here.

As a conjunction before means ‘previously to the time when’. The conjunction before joins two clauses together. Note that before and its clause can come either before or after the other clause. In subordinate clauses introduced by before we use a present tense to refer to the future.

  • I will call you before I go. (NOT I will call you before I will go.)
share|improve this answer
    
Oxford Dictionary doesn't support your argument though. Apparently, there hasn't yet a dictionary analyzing "before+clause" as a preposition. – user178049 yesterday

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.