in advance vs ahead of time | WordReference Forums

They are almost exactly equivalent, but "ahead of time" emphasises that you are well-organised, that you have a plan. Agree. Reactions: ... 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. inadvancevsaheadoftime Threadstarter glinder Startdate May30,2011 glinder SeniorMember Tuscany,Italy italian Hi, Iwouldliketoknowifthereisanyshadeofdifferencebetweenthesetwoexpressionses:"Buytheticketsinadvance/aheadoftime" Thanksalot   O opalo SeniorMember English-Scotland Theyarealmostexactlyequivalent,but"aheadoftime"emphasisesthatyouarewell-organised,thatyouhaveaplan.   Loob SeniorMember EnglishUK Helloglinder-welcometoEnglishOnly! Couldyougiveussomecontextplease,includingacompletesentence? Contextcouldwellmakeadifferenceastotheoptionwe'dchoose.   glinder SeniorMember Tuscany,Italy italian HelloLoob, Iwasmeaningingeneralsense;example:"Booktheticketsinadvance/aheadoftime"or"Youmustinformusinadvance/aheadoftime.Isthereashadeofmeaning?   glinder SeniorMember Tuscany,Italy italian ThanksOpalo,veryclear   Loob SeniorMember EnglishUK glindersaid: Iwasmeaningingeneralsense;example:"Booktheticketsinadvance/aheadoftime"or"Youmustinformusinadvance/aheadoftime.Isthereashadeofmeaning? Clicktoexpand... Idon'tthinkI'deveruse"aheadoftime"inthecontextofbookingtickets,glinder,orin"Youmustinformus___". Ithink-thoughI'mnotsure-thatI'donlyuseitwhereIdidsomethingearlierthanexpected. TheremightwellbevariationsonthisbetweendifferentvarietiesofEnglish.FromaquicklookatGoogleNewshitsfor"aheadoftime",itdoesseemtobealotmorecommoninAmericanEnglishthaninBrE.   Lastedited:May30,2011 B boozer SeniorMember Bulgaria Bulgarian Loobsaid: Ithink-thoughI'mnotsure-thatI'donlyuseitwhereIdidsomethingearlierthanexpected.. Clicktoexpand... Samehere.Andsameuncertainty. Iusuallyassociatethephrasewithsomethinghappeningaheadofitstime,someonelivingaheadoftheirtime,etc.   S Smc6288 Member Brussels,Belgium English-American IguessI'lladdtheAmericanviewhere-atleastinmyexperiencethetwoareperfectlyinterchangeable.Ifeelitismorecolloquialtosaythatyoubuythemaheadoftimeratherthaninadvance,butthatisapersonalopinion. Icertainlyseethedistinctionsbeingmadeabove,butwhenI'mtalkingtoafriend,Idon'tbelieveIwouldthinkaboutitthatway. Loobsaid: Idon'tthinkI'deveruse"aheadoftime"inthecontextofbookingtickets,glinder,orin"Youmustinformus___". Ithink-thoughI'mnotsure-thatI'donlyuseitwhereIdidsomethingearlierthanexpected. Clicktoexpand... IfIsayIdidsomethinginadvance,thatalsomeansIdiditearlierthanexpected.SoIdon'tthinkthereistoomuchofadifferenceinAEtoday. Tomesayingtobuytheticketsinadvancemeansbuyingthemearly,asdoesbuyingthemaheadoftime.   Loob SeniorMember EnglishUK Smc6288said: IfIsayIdidsomethinginadvance,thatalsomeansIdiditearlierthanexpected. Clicktoexpand... PerhapsIwasn'tclear,Smc. IfIbuytrainticketsinadvance,I'msimplybuyingthembeforethedayoftravel.I'mnotbuyingthemearlierthanexpected.Peopleexpectmetobuyticketsinadvance-it'susuallycheaper!   S Smc6288 Member Brussels,Belgium English-American Loobsaid: PerhapsIwasn'tclear,Smc. IfIbuytrainticketsinadvance,I'msimplybuyingthembeforethedayoftravel.I'mnotbuyingthemearlierthanexpected.Peopleexpectmetobuyticketsinadvance-it'susuallycheaper! Clicktoexpand... Iwasn'tsayingyouweren'tclear,andasIsaid,Idogetthedistinction.Iwasjuststatingthatinmypersonalview,Iwouldstillusetheminterchangeably. Asinsomeonewouldexpectyoutobuyaplaneticket2monthsaheadoftime(example)butyouboughtit8monthsearly-Iwouldstilllikelysayyouboughtitinadvance. Foramovieticket,itisessentiallyexpectedthatyoubuyitatthetheater(althoughnoteveryonedoes),andifyoubuyyourticketthreedaysearly,Iwouldstillsayyouboughtitinadvance.   S sunyaer SeniorMember Chinese Smc6288said: ... Foramovieticket,itisessentiallyexpectedthatyoubuyitatthetheater(althoughnoteveryonedoes),andifyoubuyyourticketthreedaysearly,Iwouldstillsayyouboughtitinadvance. Clicktoexpand... Canwesay"youboughtitaheadoftime"here?   garbage_cnbeta SeniorMember Beijing Chinese sunyaersaid: Canwesay"youboughtitaheadoftime"here? Clicktoexpand... Ithinkyoucan. Accidentleavestaxidriverbadlyhurtin‘anti-Uber’strike-GlobalTimes Theyalsoarguethatride-hailingservicesarenotataxiservicebylawandshouldthereforebebooked12to24hoursaheadoftime. Clicktoexpand...   Youmustloginorregistertoreplyhere. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Share Link Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Top