"Before" vs. "prior to": What's the difference between them?

“Before” vs. “prior to” may feel like different words that are appropriate for different types of sentences. But the reality is that they mean ... Skiptocontent Ifyou’resomeonewhowritesorcreatescontent,there’sadilemmayou’veprobablyfaced:whethertouse“before”vs.“priorto”inaparticularsentence.Forexample,whichonecouldyouusehere:“Weconsideredalltheevidence_____makingadecision”?Wouldyouchoose“before”orwouldyouplaceyourbetson“priorto”?Youmaybeconfidentthatyouknowwhichonefits.Butdoyoureallyknowtherightanswer? “Before”vs.“priorto”:Whichwordcouldyouuse? We’vegotgoodnewsforyou:nomatterwhichwordyouchose,you’reright.Youcanuseeither“before”or“priorto”inthesentence: “Weconsideredalltheevidencebeforemakingadecision.” “Weconsideredalltheevidencepriortomakingadecision.” Whycanyouuseeitherword?Because“before”vs.“priorto”meanthesamething.Infact,ifyoulookupbothwordsinmajordictionaries(e.g.,theMerriam-WebsterDictionary,OxfordDictionaries,andtheCollinsDictionary),you’llfindthatthedefinitionof“priorto”is“before.”That’swhyyoucoulduseeither“before”or“priorto”inallthesesentences: “Beforeattendinglawschool,Janessaworkedasateacher.” “Priortoattendinglawschool,Janessaworkedasateacher.” “Theyneededtofinishthelayoutforthemagazinebeforeleavingfortheday.” “Theyneededtofinishthelayoutforthemagazinepriortoleavingfortheday.” “Youmustletthechocolatecoolbeforemovingontothenextstep.” “Youmustletthechocolatecoolpriortomovingontothenextstep.” “Before”vs.“priorto”:Whichwordshouldyouuse? Now,justbecauseyoucanuseeither“before”or“priorto”inanysentencedoesn’tmeanyoushould.It’struethat“before”vs.“priorto”arebothgrammaticallycorrectchoicesforasentence.Butthatdoesn’tmeanthatthey’reequallygoodchoices. Ifyoureadourpostsonaregularbasis,you’llknowthatweliketokeepthingssimple.Thatis,wealwayssuggestusingthesimplestwordsthatyoucanuseinasentence.Simplewordsmakesentenceseasiertoreadandunderstand,andyournumberonejobasawriteristomakeyourreader’sjobaseasyaspossible.That’swhywebelieve“before”isalwaysabetterchoicethan“priorto.” Weknowwhatsomeofyouarethinking:“‘priorto’isabetterfitforaprojectproposalorreportbecauseitsoundsmoreformal.”Afterall,you’reprobablyusedtoseeingcorporateandlegaldocumentsthatarepepperedwiththisterm.Inreality,though,“priorto”isjustaLatin-basedsynonymof“before”thatsoundsunnecessarilyformal.Infact,theMerriam-Websterdictionarynotesthatsomepeopleevensee“priorto”aspompous.Andyoudon’twanttoseempompous,doyou? Rememberthatsmartpeopleareimpressedbyhowclearlyandsimplyyoucanexplainsomething,notbyhowcomplexyourwritingis.That’swhywesuggestresistingthetemptationtouse“priorto”andgoingwith“before”nomatterwhat.Afterall,there’sreallynosituationwhereyouwouldneedtouse“priorto”insteadof“before.” Summary “Before”vs.“priorto”mayfeellikedifferentwordsthatareappropriatefordifferenttypesofsentences.Buttherealityisthattheymeanthesamething.That’swhynomatterwhatyou’retryingtosay,youcansimplifyandstrengthenyourwritingbyusing“before”insteadof“priorto.” ————————————————————————————————————————————— Wantmoretipsonhowtoproduceclearandconcisecontent?Readourpostonhowtoshortenlongwordsandsentences. ————————————————————————————————————————————— InpressionEditinghelpsbusinesses,professionals,andstudentsmakethebestimpressionpossibleoncustomers,investors,hiringmanagers,andadmissionscommittees.Wedothisbyprovidingcopywriting,editing,andwritingcoachingservicesforwebsitecopy,blogposts,marketingmaterials,personalstatements,andmuchmore. LocatedinToronto,Canada,weprovideallofourservicesinbothCanadianandUSEnglish.Getaninstantquotehere. “Before”vs.“priorto”:What’sthedifference?PinShareTweet0Shares Taggedon:before    businesswriting    contentmarketing    contentwriting    copywriting    englishgrammar    grammar    GrammarTips    priorto    writing    writingskills    WritingTips ←5blogpostheadlinemistakesyouneedtostopmaking 9blogtitlegeneratortoolstohelpyoucrafttheperfectheadline+72titletemplates→ LeaveaReplyCancelreplyYouremailaddresswillnotbepublished.Requiredfieldsaremarked*Comment*Name* Email* Website Δ RecentPosts TheultimatechecklistforwritingbusinessInstagramcaptions+80freeCTAtemplates 14blogpostideasyouraudiencewillactuallyenjoy+Freeblogposttemplate&example 9InstagramStoriesbestpracticestogetbetterresultsforyourbiz+7socialmediacopytemplates 13effectivewaystouseInstagramStoriestopromoteyourbusiness+7socialmediacopytemplates 5pricingpagecopysecretsthatboostsales+Freeservicespagecopytemplate&example PinterestBoard