early是什么意思

early, early on

early on原为英式英语,现在美式英语也通用,在非正式文体中须去掉on。其意思是“初时,在较早的阶段,早些时候”。有些语法学家认为这和later on一样属于用词不够经济的例子,但在实际英语中, early on经常有人用。例如:Mary came to see you earlier on, but you weren't at home then.玛丽早些时候来看望过你,但你当时不在家。

early, ago

两者都可表达“某时之前若干时间”。它们的区别在于:如果是从现在起向过去推算,用表示时间度量的短语加ago,并与动词的一般过去时连用; 如果表示从过去时刻向更深远的过去推算,则用earlier,并常与动词的过去完成时连用。例如:Stirring scene from the film still sticks in my mind, though I saw it several years ago.虽然这部影片我是几年前看的,但那激动人心的场面仍然印在我的脑海里。Four days earlier his foot had been bitten by a poisonous snake.4天前他的脚被毒蛇咬了一下。

early, quick, shortly, soon

这组词共同的意思是“不久”“即刻”“快”。它们的区别在于:early常指时间比原来或通常早些; quick含有匆忙、仓促之意; soon指在某一特定时间过现在之后不久,多用于将来时或过去时,通常放在句末或主要动词之前; shortly与soon同义,但比soon更郑重,常用于新闻报道等。例如:You have to think quick with the mind and act quick with the body.你必须脑子转得快,行动也得快。I came early, and had to wait for others, but soon after five o'clock they appeared.我来得早,得等其他人,可是刚过5点他们就都来了。Shortly after that, the police arrived.那事情发生不久警察就到了。

下面两个句子的意思相同:

The train will arrive in the early morning.The train will arrive early in the morning.火车一清早就到。第一句中的early是形容词,修饰morning; 第二句中的early是副词,修饰in the morning。