formerly
part of speech
adverb (formerly)
meaning for a pupil
1) Formerly means in the past, before now, but not any more. tree →
2) (formal) Formerly is used to give the old name of a person, place or thing. tree →
sense in the lessons
It tells the reader that something used to be true: «the library, formerly a church». In everyday life you see it on signs and in news: «formerly known as». In exam and formal writing it replaces «used to be». Phrases: formerly known as, formerly called.
examples
- The café was formerly a bank. tree →
- Mrs Smith, formerly Miss Jones, is our new teacher. tree →
- The town was formerly a busy port. tree →
- This land was formerly covered in forest. tree →
- The shop, formerly known as Toyland, has a new name. tree →
- He formerly lived in Dublin, but now he lives in Cork. tree →
- The building was formerly used as a school. tree →
- She would be as ‘terribly lonely’ as he had formerly been. tree →
note
An adverb. Do not confuse with «formally» (in a polite, official way) — they sound almost the same. «Formerly» = before; «formally» = officially. Mixing them is a very common spelling trap.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «formerly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.