Suppose I say "We're moving the 12 PM meeting forward 2 hours", does that mean the meeting is at 10 AM or 2 PM?
Asked
Active
Viewed 2.8k times
6
-
6updoot this comment if you think its 10 AM – Frank Schwieterman Jun 21 '20 at 00:25
-
2updoot this comment if you think its 2 PM – Frank Schwieterman Jun 21 '20 at 00:25
-
4In this context, forward means it happens sooner. Upvote this comment if you know I'm right. – Robusto Jun 21 '20 at 00:41
-
6I upvoted @Robusto’s comment. Upvote this if you think I did the right thing. – Jim Jun 21 '20 at 00:50
-
8Upvote this comment if you think asking for people to vote for comments is not in the spirit of the Stack Exchange question and answer format. – nnnnnn Jun 21 '20 at 01:30
-
See also: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/13/time-move-meeting-forward-oliver-burkeman ;) – nutty about natty Jan 05 '23 at 13:14
2 Answers
10
If you move a meeting forward, you are scheduling it earlier. See Collins.
There is, however, a lot of confusion about terms like up, back, forward, and out when they are used in this context. As Merriam-Webster suggests, the best way to handle them is probably not to use them at all, and substitute less ambiguous words like earlier and later in their place.
Isabel Archer
- 3,325
-
The collins link refers to "bring forward" which is more generally accepted to mean earlier in time than "move forward" is – AlecZorab Oct 19 '20 at 14:20
0
Technically "you bring forward" or "you move back". It's not good English to say move forward in this context. You can move forward in a line up or a queue but not when talking about time....
