antecedent

前事、前因、先例

Historians traced the antecedents of the war back fifty years.

歷史學家把這場戰爭的前因追溯到五十年前。

前身、先驅

This small workshop was the antecedent of today's factory.

這間小工坊就是今日這座工廠的前身。

出身、家世、經歷常用複數

Little is known about the candidate's family antecedents.

外界對這位候選人的家世所知甚少。

先行詞文法

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number.

代名詞必須與其先行詞在數上一致。

先前的、在前的正式

The report ignores events antecedent to the financial collapse.

這份報告忽略了金融崩盤之前發生的事件。