"if earlier" is a valid phrase in written English.
You can use it as a condition or contrast to a current time. For example, "If earlier this year I had known how the pandemic would affect our lives, I would have been more prepared."
One wonders if earlier generations were so self-conscious about decorating their homes.
If earlier societies had done what we're doing, the world as we know it wouldn't exist.
But that also means the Republicans have the most to lose if earlier perceptions return.
"If earlier it was the British and the Indian, it is ever-changing, with the influx of several new communities".
(There are harder-to-answer questions, like how much it might save Medicare if, earlier in life, a person had access to preventive care through a spouse's insurance).
If the Sun will reach its maximum height later than at home, the release site is west of home; if earlier, the site is east of home.
Maybe he would have known if earlier he had not been in the Rose Garden taking pictures with Coach Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke men's basketball team.
Compare this with the devastating effects on the women whose rape could have been prevented if earlier complainants had been believed.
If earlier poems acknowledge forbears who took on the challenges of emigration, the dedication here is to the poet's mother, who died in 2001.
Species could also experience reduced food supply if earlier breeding periods are at odds with the food available at the time.
Here the distant voices of Trinity Boys Choir filtered in ethereally, even if earlier in the performance they had felt too far away.
