before vs ago

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

I had been here before. (OK)
I had been here a month ago. (OK)
I have been here before. (OK)
I have been here a month ago. (wrong)
I have been here a month before. (wrong)
I have been here before a month. (wrong)
Are my observations correctly written within brackets?

2

You are correct except for the second sentence. “ago” is normally relative to now, and doesn’t work well with the past perfect where the reference point is in the past. You can say “I had been here a month earlier”.

3

Mr Dozy,
Can I say, “I have been here a month earlier.”?

4

Could any one answer me?

5

I don’t think so.
Your sentence seems incomplete.
It should be better to write… I have been here for a month earlier than you / someone/ some event.
with regards.

6

Hello everybody.Dear TORSTEN DAERR.
Thank you for your lesson.I have answered 7 of 10 questions of the test"sailing". Can you explain me what is the differens “make of and make from”?

7

Dear Sofik.

I should say. e.g-

  1. Wine is made from grape. ( Wine is produced/processed completely from grape). ( You cannot see / feel the grape, the origin of wine anymore. )

  2. Sugar is made from/ produced from sugar canes.

  3. This table is made of teak wood. ( Table is constructed/ crafted from teak wood). ( You still can see/feel its origin, the wood. )

  4. This bracelet is made of/crafted from gold.

I hope you like it.
with regards,

8

Thank you very much. Mr.Kyaw Min Lwin.
Now i catch on the difference.i like it.
Best wishes.

9

She has not told him her name before.
She did not tell him her name before.
I think both sentences are correct.
We can’t replace ‘before’ with ‘ago’ in those sentences. Am I correct?

10

Nr. Alan,
I want your reply, please.

11

You’re correct.

12

Mr. Beeesneees,
It was a long time before when I met her for the first time.
It was a long time ago when I met her for the first time.
Hopefully I’ve been forgiven a long time ago.
It seems like a long time ago, the accident happened.
Are these sentences OK?
Are the tense used is OK with ‘ago’?

13

Ago should go always with the simple past.

Your sentence would sonds better “I was forgiven a long time ago”.

I think when you use ago you cannot say something that youre not sure about like “Hopefully I was forgiven a long time ago”, because the “hopefully” gives to the sentence a feeling of vagueness(that might or might not be true), and the “ago” kind of make the sentence be a fact. So, it feels strange to me. I’d never wondered this before. Let’s wait for a better answer for this.

However, Im sure the “ago” cannot goes with the peferct tenses as in “Hopefully Ive been forgiven a long time ago” mabye “Hopefully Ive been forgiven since a long time ago”…

14

It was a long time before when I met her for the first time. ← no. Use ‘ago’.
It was a long time ago when I met her for the first time. ← yes
Hopefully I’ve been forgiven a long time ago. ← as indicated, ‘I was forgiven’ is preferable, though it has nothing to do with ‘ago’ being related to fact…
It seems like a long time ago, the accident happened. ← It seems as if the accident happened a long time ago.