From before

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"I have been known him from before the war."Is this sentence correct ?Can we use "before the war" as a "noun equivalent" ?

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Debpriya De"I have been known him from before the war."
Is this sentence correct ?
Can we use "before the war" as a "noun equivalent" ?

I don't consider the sentence correct. The tense is improperly constructed.

There's "I have known him from etc."
"I had known him from etc."
"I have been knowing him from etc."

The last one doesn't work with this verb.
You could say, "I have been seeing him since before the war."

"I have been known" is a passive construction.
"I have been known to dance on the table."

I can't think of a noun I could substitute for "before the war."

Maybe, "I have known him from childhood."

So, okay on the noun equivalent, but it's not my area of expertise.

KristineR · Answer

This sentence is incorrect and nonsensical. The following are both correct sentences:

"I have known him since before the war." (active voice)
"I have been known by him since before the war." (passive voice)

In the active voice sentence, I know him. In the passive voice sentence, he knows me.

"Before the war" is not a noun equivalent. It is a time frame. You must use "since," not "from." It is correct to say, "I know him from school," or "I know him from church," because those are nouns. If you're talking about time, you say, "I have known him since before the war," or "I have known him since the end of the war."

You can also say, "I know him from the war." In that case, "the war" is a noun.

Debpriya De · Answer

"I have known him from/since before the war."
This is the sentence I intended to write. I made a typo in my first post. I apologize.
All I wanted to know was whether "before the war" could be used as a noun equivalent or not ?

Avangi · Answer

Debpriya De"I have been known him from before the war."
Is this sentence correct ? All I wanted to know was whether "before the war" could be used as a noun equivalent or not ?

So what else would you use it as?

I guess I don't understand the question. Whatever you're using it as is correct.

Debpriya De · Answer

But phrases with "before" such as "before the war" are generally used as adverbs as in "I knew him before the war".
We don't generally use it as a noun equivalent as in "Before the war was a good time."

Avangi · Answer

Okay, I'm starting to get the point.

I've known him since before the war. "Before the war" is adverbial, modifying the verb "have known." If you want to call it an "adverb equivalent," that's cool with me.

You can replace it with a "single" adverb. I've known him since yesterday.

If you say, "I've known him since high school," I suspect "high school" is a noun.
Still, it answers the question "when."
We say "Since when?" We don't say "Since what?"
If you say, "I've known him since before high school," we're back where we started.

So I guess you concede that "before the war" is an adverb equivalent in your sentence, and you want to know if it can be used in a DIFFERENT sentence as a noun equavalent - such as, "Before the war was a good time."
Personally, I'd say "No."

Sometimes we turn "time words" into adjectives:
Post-depression America was crazy.
But offhand, I can't think of a "time word" used as a noun.

The expression "prewar America" functions as a noun, but we wouldn't say "Prewar America was a good time," I don't think. We could say, "Prewar America was crazy."

I think "antedeluvial" (before the great flood) is an example of a "time word" used as an adjective, but that doesn't help your cause.

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