The phrase "a date earlier" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when referring to a specific date that is before another date in a chronological context.
Example: "We need to schedule the meeting for a date earlier than the deadline."
Alternatives: "an earlier date" or "a prior date".
but in no event shall a date earlier than the later of December 31 , 1975 or the date determined under subparagraph (A) or (B) be substituted.
The footprints indicated that their makers walked upright; this discovery pushed back the advent of human bipedalism to a date earlier than the scientific community had previously suspected.
The British prime minister has said that as part of any deal that gave constitutional legality to a Scottish-run vote on the issue, his government would seek a date earlier than 2014.
"By choosing a date earlier than the world date, the EU will now force teams to seek events outside the EU during part of 2005 and all of 2006 in order to observe contracts which do not expire until 2006," the letter adds.
In any case, there is a consensus among Japanese archaeologists that the beginning of Yayoi should be revised to a date earlier by at least three centuries than the traditional 500 BCE.
One of the coins has been assigned a date earlier than 200 BCE and some others to about the time of Roman influence, which is around the dawn of the Christian era.
The Turks want a date early in 2005.
That night was everything a date early in a relationship should be: relaxed, fun and with a mildly inappropriate amount of publicly displayed affection.
We agreed on a date early in January and I was delighted to be able to make it a real day out by securing the editor's office for the game.
"There was a date early on," Ming recalls, "where we were starting to reveal things to each other.
Based on the perceived "faulty proportions" of the figures, Ludwig von Baldass suggested a date early in van Eyck's career, around 1425.
