ahead of his time / times | WordReference Forums

When "ahead of his times " is used, the speaker is looking at his years of life as a row of time points, while "his time " in "ahead of his time ... Forums Dictionarysearch:  English-Spanish English-French English-Italian English-German English-Dutch English-Russian English-Portuguese English-Polish English-Romanian English-Swedish English-Czech English-Greek English-Turkish English-Chinese English-Japanese English-Korean English-Arabic Spanish-English French-English Italian-English German-English Dutch-English Russian-English Portuguese-English Polish-English Romanian-English Swedish-English Czech-English Greek-English Turkish-English Chinese-English Japanese-English Korean-English Arabic-English Spanish-French Spanish-Portuguese Spanish-Catalan French-Spanish Portuguese-Spanish Englishdefinition Englishsynonyms Englishcollocations Englishusage Italiandefinition Spanishdefinition Spanishsynonyms Catalandefinition Spanish French Italian Login Register What'snew Search Rules/Help/FAQ Members InterfaceLanguage Menu Login Register Installtheapp Install Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Youareusinganoutofdatebrowser.Itmaynotdisplaythisorotherwebsitescorrectly.Youshouldupgradeoruseanalternativebrowser. aheadofhistime/times Threadstarter sunyaer Startdate Apr23,2013 S sunyaer SeniorMember Chinese Self-madesentence: "Histhinkingwasaheadofhistime/times." Timeortimes,whichoneiscorrect? (Itseemstomethateitherofthemiscorrect.Butnoideaaboutwhichoneismorecommonlyheardfromnativespeakers.) Note:therearebothusagesappearinginbookscomingupingooglengramsearch.   B BerylfromNorthallerton SeniorMember BritishEnglish Histhinkingwasaheadofitstime. Hewasaheadofhistime. He/itwasaheadofthetimes.   B boozer SeniorMember Bulgaria Bulgarian AheadofhistimeiswhatIhaveheardmostofthetime. PS.BerylpostedwhileIwasthinking.AndnowIcheckedtheBNCjustincase...Indeed,theplural'times'doesnotseemtomakesense,butIdidfindsomeexamplesnonetheless: Hewasnotjustaheadofhistimes,butatimelessfigurewhosepropheticwordswerecastasperceptivewit. Eventuallyneitherproposalfoundfavour,buttheyproveFrancisMaginntohavebeenamanofvisionandaheadofhistimesinhisthinking. Usingthesingular'time'ismysafebet,though.   Lastedited:Apr23,2013 velisarius SeniorMember Greece BritishEnglish(Sussex) "Aheadofhistime"ishowweusuallythinkofit,thoughabiographymightbeentitled"TheLifeandTimes​ofBenjaminFranklin".AninterestingdifferencewhichIcan'texplain.   S sunyaer SeniorMember Chinese boozersaid: ... Usingthesingular'time'ismysafebet,though. Clicktoexpand... WhatIwanttoknowisthat,when"aheadofhistimes"isused,doesthespeakerconveyameaningthatisdifferentthan"aheadofhistime"? Myownexplanation: When"aheadofhistimes"isused,thespeakerislookingathisyearsoflifeasarowoftimepoints,while"histime"in"aheadofhistime"viewshislifeasoneperiod.Hence,theformerseemstobeamoredynamicconcept,meaning"takingtheleadthroughouthisyears".Doesthismakesense?   Lastedited:Apr23,2013 B boozer SeniorMember Bulgaria Bulgarian Idon'tthinkso,personally.Peopleonlygettoliveinonetime-theirtime.   S sunyaer SeniorMember Chinese boozersaid: Idon'tthinkso,personally.Peopleonlygettoliveinonetime-theirtime. Clicktoexpand... Butifyoubreakuptheyearsoflife,youwillgettheflowofyourtime,whichwillbecome"times". Also,whenpluralisused,theword"times"isusedtomeansuchthingsasfashion,trend,whichhaveaconceptof'flow"intime.   Lastedited:Apr23,2013 Youmustloginorregistertoreplyhere. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Share Link Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Top