Early

Early is an adverb or an adjective.

Early means ‘near the beginning of a period of time or event’. The comparative and superlative forms are earlier and earliest. We most commonly use early as an adverb:

• We’ll have to get up early to catch the flight. (early in the morning)
• The meeting’s now taking place in March, two months earlier.

Early can also be used as an adjective:

• [talking about a famous composer]
• His early music was written mainly for children.
• His earliest memories were of life in Brazil.

Early as an adverb can also mean ‘before the time that was expected’:

• You’re early. We haven’t had breakfast yet.

Typical error

We don’t use early to mean ‘a short time after now’ or ‘a short time after then’. We use soon:

• Let’s meet soon.

• Not: Let’s meet early.

• They had only been in Greece for a week but they soon learned to speak a few words of the local language.

• Not: … but they early learned to speak a few words …