Precede, Proceed

November is auspicious in so many parts of the country: the rice harvest is already in, the weather starts to cool, and the festive glow which precedes Christmas has began to brighten landscape.” –F. Sionil Jose

Precede means to come before in time, or rank, or space; coming before something or someone; go back further, ahead of something or someone, come before (obviously, your parents precede your birth). The Iron Age precedes Bronze Age.

Normally, adjectives in English language precede a noun: adjectives describe the nouns such as: she is a compassionate person because her thoughts precede for others.

Few teachers precede their classes by recollecting and reviewing what was taught in earlier class or classes because recapitulation helps the students to recollect.

The derivatives of precede are precedes, preceding, preceded (verbs); precedence and precedency (nouns), precedent, precedented and precedential (adjectives), precedentially (in law, like the force of precedent, judges gives judgment based upon precedence) precdently (adverb – with precedent).

Who preceded George W Bush as the President of the USA?
The opposite of precede is succeed.
Precedency (noun) means something established in order of importance, or urgency, preceding in time or rank.

When someone gains precedence it also means getting a priority over others due to holding of a position such as a rank, or because of age or experience.

Presidency refers to the office of the President, and the gamut of operations of the office of a President and the tenure. Precedent is a noun.

There are precedents in the society which are followed for long time because they have proved invaluable and indispensable. Judges can give judgments based on precedents (previous cases).

Proceed means to go forward, continue, onwards; move forward, to continue to do something; travel ahead or onward in time or space; go, move on, follow a procedure, take or follow a course. When it is red, you stop at the traffic signals and proceed when it is green.

You proceed to talk in a classroom, once your teacher gives permission.

The presiding officer of a legislature such as the Parliament, gives permission to a member of the house to proceed to talk or make a statement. He or she cannot proceed without permission.

The derivatives of the verb proceed are proceeds, proceeding, proceeded. Proceeding is a noun (proceedings – plural) meaning a written account of a meeting or discussion; and in law, proceedings are series or sequence of steps on which judgements are given.

Until you are mature enough, you cannot proceed to take your own decisions but will be guided by parents or teachers.

By: Kovuuri G Reddy