Previously

Question

The previously-happy family is a family which was happy, but now isn't,

or a family which was happy, and now is still happy.

I want to know "previously" can provide the opposite property for the modified noun?

If yes, I want to further known what is "a previously broken line" and "a previously prepared statement"?

Especially, when "a previously prepared statement" is a statement which was prepared, but now is unprepared, it sounds strange.

GPY · Accepted Answer

Wei-Tsung LiThe previously-happy family is a family which was happy, but now isn't, or a family which was happy, and now is still happy.

It normally implies that the family is no longer happy. For properties that can change over time, "previously X" normally implies that property X no longer applies. However, once a statement has been prepared, it can hardly be "unprepared", so we don't apply that interpretation to "a previously prepared statement". We just understand it to mean that the statement was prepared beforehand. Note also that "happy" is an adjective while "prepared" is passive verbal. It's harder to think of adjective examples that would be interpreted in the "previously prepared statement" way.

By convention we normally do not use hyphens with "-ly" modifiers, even though it seems logical. Thus we would write "previously happy family".

Wei-Tsung Li"a previously broken line"

This is hard to understand without more context. More context please.

Wei-Tsung Li · Answer

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20626652

In the absence of FKD1, PIN1::GFP narrowing to incipient veins is delayed, and localization to the apical cell face is infrequent. The lack of apical PIN1 localization correlates with the failure of newly forming veins to connect distally with previously formed veins.

I also want to know how to identify a past participle is an adjective or a passive verb.

Thank you!

Previously

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