# Use of "pre-" with a verb **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-pre-with-a-verb/247971 "2004-05-31T22:45:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-pre-with-a-verb/247971/1 "2004-05-31T22:45:42Z")
Yes, this comes from George Carlin’s bit about airline language. Isn’t he right, though? Example: I go to Amazon to “pre-order” the next Stephen King _Dark Tower_ book. Well, it’s not like I do that and when the book is available, they let me know and THEN I order it, right? I’ve placed the order. Granted, I’ve placed the order _prior_ to the book’s availability, so why not say that? Same thing goes for “preheating” an oven. You’re heating the oven. You are actually getting the oven to the correct cooking temperature _prior_ to starting the cooking process. From a grammatical POV, isn’t using “pre-” with a verb incorrect? ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-pre-with-a-verb/247971/2 "2004-05-31T23:16:44Z")
If there is something wrong with it, then the error started in Latin which uses _prae-_ this way quite often. There are numerous words related to those in English like _presume_ or _prepare_. Do you think it should be used in a way that is closer to the nouns with a _pre-_ prefix or avoided completely? But then, why is _prepare_ (“pre-make-ready”) legal, but not pre-order? Whether you consider a latin (-derived) prefix with an English word good style is a different question but I don’t think there is anything wrong with it from a technical standpoint. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-pre-with-a-verb/247971/3 "2004-05-31T23:24:43Z")
In the case of pre-ordering, pre-heating, and pre-boarding, dropping the “pre-” gives you the same actions. It’s just odd-sounding. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-pre-with-a-verb/247971/4 "2004-05-31T23:30:49Z")
“Pre-” means “before.” When used with a noun, usually an event, it literally means “the time before the event”, i.e., pre-trial, pre-flight, pre-shoot, pre-discovery, etc. because it’s so literal it’s not often questioned. Used with a verb in the present tense typically _imples_ some sort of antecented action that is different from how you would normally do things. When you pre-order a book or car, the item you’ve ordered usually isn’t even available to be shipped yet. When you pre-heat an oven, you’re heating an EMPTY oven before the food goes in, assuring the oven reaches the correct temperature first. Consider also that correctness becomes more acceptable once the verb is in the past tense: previewed, prefabricated, predetermined. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-pre-with-a-verb/247971/5 "2004-05-31T23:31:26Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Granted, I’ve placed the order _prior_ to the book’s availability, so why not say that? I think this is exactly the point. Whenever you use “pre-” with a verb, you’re doing it BEFORE something else, but not necessarily before doing the SAME thing again. I suppose you could be more verbose and thus more accurate, but really, when COULDN’T you? > [@](#): > > In the case of pre-ordering, pre-heating, and pre-boarding, dropping the “pre-” gives you the same actions. Yes, but you lose context (probably not in all cases though). If you say “I’m ordering this book,” and I say “I’m pre-ordering that book,” you know that book hasn’t been released yet. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-pre-with-a-verb/247971/6 "2004-05-31T23:31:52Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > In the case of pre-ordering, pre-heating, and pre-boarding, dropping the “pre-” gives you the same actions. No it doesn’t. “Pre-heating” comes from the adjectival “pre-heated oven”, ie an oven heated before cooking commences. “Pre-boarding” means just that - prior to boarding. From the point of view of the retailer, “pre-ordering” is very different to regular orders. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-pre-with-a-verb/247971/7 "2004-05-31T23:34:42Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > Yes, but you lose context (probably not in all cases though). If you say “I’m ordering this book,” and I say “I’m pre-ordering that book,” you know that book hasn’t been released yet. Yeah, I know. Still sounds goofy. No wonder English is so hard to learn. Does this sort of thing occur in other languages? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-pre-with-a-verb/247971/8 "2004-05-31T23:35:48Z")
Saying “I’m predisposed to understanding the nuances of this kind of odd parsing of word meaning” is NOT the same as saying “I’m disposed to understanding the nuances of this odd parsing of word meaning.” You lose the implicit meaning that this has happened to you before. There. Hope that muddles it up for you. ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/use-of-pre-with-a-verb/247971/9 "2004-05-31T23:54:12Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Does this sort of thing occur in other languages? In German _pre-_ (_prä-_, actually) is only used with words derived from Latin and those are less common than in English. However German prefixes are used all the time. e.g. _pre-heat_ is _vorheizen_, _pre-order_ is _vorbestellen_. Both are perfectly normal German words. The preposition _vor_ on its own means _before_ or _in front of_. The endless German compound nouns are relatively well-known, but you can also form new verbs on the fly using modification (or - less likely this way round - derivation) suffixes and prefixes.