Today, we’re going to look at “BE+AHEAD+OF” as an idiom as that is how it is commonly used.
6-He’s ahead of…
Steve Jobs was definitely ahead of his time.
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Steve Jobs’ ideas were way too modern, just as if they (the ideas) had come to him from the future.
Now if we just remove [his] and keep the rest of it, that would change the meaning dramatically:
If you come to the clinic ahead of time, you’ll have to wait.
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If you come to the clinic too early, you’ll have to wait.
Another idiom usually used in the business world is this:
When it comes to computer software, they’re ahead of the game.
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In the area of computer software, they’re better and more successful than most of their competitors.
Unlike me, my brother’s always done pretty well in business because he’s always been ahead of the curve.
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Unlike me, my brother’s always done well in business because he’s always known and understood business better than others.(simply smart when it comes to business matters)
You can also replace “curve” with “pack”, and you’ve practically got the same idiom:
At the moment, it looks like she’s winning the contest, she’s ahead of the pack.
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At the moment, it looks like she’s winning the contest, she’s the best in contest (as in the most skilled, smartest, fittest, etc).
Another common business idiom goes like this:
Don’t worry Mark, we’re definitely ahead of schedule, we’ll hand in the report by the end of the day.
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Don’t worry Mark, we’re definitely able to finish the report before it’s due (earlier than we’re supposed to).
So generally, “ahead” is used to refer to “winning”:
Did you watch the soccer game yesterday, Brazil and Germany? Brazil was ahead throughout the entire game.
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Did you watch the soccer game yesterday, Brazil and Germany? Brazil was winning throughout the entire game. (but maybe in the last 5 minutes, the Germans managed to turn the game around ;).
Finally, “ahead” is sometimes literally “ahead” :
There were 5 people ahead of us in the queue, and we were really in a hurry, so we couldn’t wait.
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There were 5 people before us (they came first)…
Well, look guys, I don’t know much, but what I do know is when it comes to pronunciation teaching, I’ve definitely been ahead of the game, and I will always be!
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