early afterwards

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "early afterwards" is not correct and does not convey a clear meaning in written English.
It is typically intended to describe a time shortly following an event, but the combination of "early" and "afterwards" is contradictory. Example: "We finished the meeting early afterwards, allowing us to leave before the traffic started."

⚠ May contain grammatical issues

Science

News & Media

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

1 human-written examples

The study done by Campbell et al. [12] focuses on ICU patients that were discharged and expected to both live and not return too early afterwards.

Journal of Big Data

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

59 human-written examples

In peripheral lymphoid organs, however, we found IFNβ upregulated early after MOG-immunization and decreased afterwards.

Acta neuropathologica communications

If the cells became damaged early after infection, they may have not been able to produce significant amounts of TNFα afterwards.

Progress in Biomaterials

She asked him to tell her something so he lied, telling her he had been mugged earlier in the evening, relating an attack that had happened two months earlier... Afterwards she went back into the hotel, and he waited outside for a moment after saying goodbye, for his emotions to settle..

The New Yorker

She asked him to tell her something so he lied, telling her he had been mugged earlier in the evening, relating an attack that had happened two months earlier... Afterwards she went back into the hotel, and he waited outside for a moment after saying goodbye, for his emotions to settle.

The New Yorker

One approach to facilitate the disclosure of information for the purposes of genomic research, and to alleviate some of the problems documented above, is to de-identify data before disclosure to researchers or at the earliest opportunity afterwards [ 9, 10].

Genome Medicine

Almost entirely because of Obama's endorsement, Rahm won a big plurality among African-American voters in the first vote and in the early polling right afterwards, but the dynamics are changing dramatically in the African-American wards.

Huffington Post

Interestingly, after exposure to carcinogen NNK, we also detected a significant reduction of MLH1 expression, emerging early and maintaining afterwards.

BioMed Research International

"I can't remember scoring that early," Arsene Wenger said afterwards.

Independent

She graduated from Hunter College in 1945 with a B.A. in early childhood education and afterwards received certification as a principal, beginning her career as a nursery school teacher at the privately operated Joytown Kent School, and later principal, director, and owner of the nursery through 3rd grade school.

The New York Times

Although it was unlikely that these pathways were never activated, it was predictable that certain cytokines were upregulated at an early stage but suppressed afterwards.

Nanoscale Research Letters

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Avoid using the phrase "early afterwards" in formal writing. Instead, opt for clearer and more grammatically correct alternatives such as "soon after" or "shortly after".

Common error

Be mindful of using redundant temporal adverbs. "Early" and "afterwards" both indicate time, and combining them can create an awkward and unclear sentence. Consider a more precise alternative to improve clarity.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "early afterwards" functions as a temporal adverbial phrase, attempting to specify when an event occurs in relation to a previous one. However, according to Ludwig AI, the phrase is not grammatically sound. Therefore, although it's intended to indicate timing, its ungrammatical nature undermines its function.

Expression frequency: Rare

Frequent in

Science

34%

News & Media

33%

Formal & Business

0%

Less common in

Encyclopedias

0%

Wiki

33%

Reference

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, "early afterwards" is a grammatically questionable phrase attempting to describe an event occurring soon after another. Ludwig AI indicates that the combination of "early" and "afterwards" creates redundancy and lacks clarity. While it appears in various contexts like science, media and wikis, it's infrequent and not considered standard English. For clearer and more grammatically correct alternatives, consider using "soon after" or "shortly after" instead. The expert rating reflects the phrase's grammatical issues and inconsistent usage, recommending against its use in formal writing.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

soon after

Emphasizes the proximity in time between two events.

shortly after

Similar to 'soon after', highlighting a brief interval.

immediately following

Highlights that something occurs without delay.

directly after

Suggests a lack of intermediaries or intervening time.

immediately after

Reinforces that something occurs without delay.

quickly following

Similar to 'soon after', highlighting a brief interval.

shortly thereafter

A more formal way of saying 'shortly after'.

right after

An informal way of saying 'immediately after'.

in the immediate aftermath

Focuses on the period directly following an event, often a crisis.

at the first opportunity afterwards

Highlights that something will occur, without delay.

FAQs

What does "early afterwards" mean?

The phrase "early afterwards" is generally considered grammatically incorrect. It attempts to combine the concept of something happening 'early' with something happening 'afterwards', resulting in redundancy and a lack of clarity. Consider using alternatives like "soon after" or "shortly after" to convey a similar meaning.

How can I rephrase "early afterwards" in a sentence?

Instead of using "early afterwards", consider using phrases such as "immediately after", "shortly after", or "soon after" to indicate a time frame directly following an event.

Is it correct to say "early afterwards"?

No, it's generally not considered correct to say "early afterwards". The combination is redundant. Better alternatives include "soon after", "shortly thereafter", or "immediately afterwards".

What's the difference between "early afterwards" and "soon after"?

"Early afterwards" is not a standard or grammatically sound phrase. It's better to use established phrases like "soon after", "immediately after", or "shortly after" to indicate something happening a short time after a previous event.