Prior Vs. Previous

Mr. Richard Pryor. One of the greatest comedians of all time.

I thought about pacing myself here, perhaps even being stingy with the new material, because you know that one day it’ll dry up again, and then we’ll be on hiatus for another thousand years. But, if I have something nice I can’t wait to share it, even if it crumbles slightly in the sharing. So having said all that, here, have a slice of crumbly, sticky, Word pie...

Prior and previous are aninteresting pair of words that suffer from similar problems  as start and begin, and end and finish. They are largely synonymous, but prior also has an extra definition, and sometimes this creates discord in the rhythm of a sentence. Let’s look at those definitions:

1. Previous (adj) Existing or coming before in time or order.

2. Prior (adj) Existing or coming before in time, order or importance.

The classic example of prior’s extra definition is, ‘I’m sorry Piotr, I can’t meet you on Tuesday as I have a prior engagement.’ Here, priorfulfils all of its duties. The obvious fact is that the speaker has already agreed to do something else on Tuesday, before they were invited somewhere by Piotr. The implied fact is that this is not something that can be cancelled or rearranged  Maybe it’s a job interview, or a funeral, or a date with someone hot? Otherwise, hanging out with Piotr would be the happening thing on Tuesday. 

As far as our translations go, the problem is that we’re using priorwhen what we need to use is previous. To simplify, prior works at its absolute best when it’s prior to (which is generally less of a problem, interestingly).

In the following examples, prior is being used incorrectly:

- These financial statements do not cover any events related to prior years.

- The prior year’s losses did not impact heavily on our financial standing.

- Increased sales throughout 2011 created significant profits compared to the prior year’s    figures.

- In prior years, the lack of our own facilities has made this a problematic area.

Now let’s do them again, with previous:
- These financial statements do not cover any events related to previous years.
- The previous year’s losses did not impact heavily on our financial standing.
- Increased sales throughout 2011 created significant profits compared to the previous year’s   figures.
- In previous years, the lack of our own facilities has made this a problematic area.

Do they read any better to you now? To anglik eyes (and ears), the sentences flow more smoothly, like hot chocolate dripping off a golden spoon into a lake of melted marshmallows.

Because I love you all so much, here's the recipe too!

Now, here are some goodexamples of prior (all from our concordance, all from different clients). None of them would work with previous, and all of them work because they come with the extra nutty crunch of to.

- Prior toreceiving the new information, we had thought the task impossible.

- Carrying amount prior to acquisition…

 - The number of shares held prior to the change is not larger than it was previously.

-  Writers must submit their manuscripts for editing prior to their publication.

- The Purchaser agrees to take control of the Company prior to the closing date of the sale.

There are two reasons for all of this chocolaty, nutty mess. The first is that, in terms of prior’s 4th sense, the year before does not inherently take precedence over this year in terms of importance. The second is that using prior alone as your adjective sounds odd, even in stiffer, more formal contexts.

Final thought: There are times when prior does work on its own, or when it’s part of an established phrase. If any of you deal with accounting translations, you’ll doubtless be familiar with the IFRS and their thrill-a-minute IAS(International Accounting Standards). Within these standards, there are several uses of prior which conflict with what I’m saying above (prior year, prior period i inni). Remember, what the IFRS say, we must do, so don’t change your habits there!

 Another one of Rich, because I do so love him.