✅ Improve and advance both mean to become better. However, these words rely on different definitions of better.

✅ Improve is more general, and suggests something becoming more desirable, or increasing in quality (Good sleep improves mental health; The dress was improved by the addition of lace).

✅ Advance suggests moving forward or making progress on something, such as a political cause or scientific phenomenon (The policy will advance civil rights; This research advanced our understanding of evolution).

✅ Advance is more commonly used in the context of academia, science, or politics. In other contexts, it can sound more formal.

Advance your vocabulary with the help of these synonyms.

✅ Following describes something that comes after something else (In the following book, our hero defeats the villain).

✅ Subsequent describes something that comes after, or comes later than something else (This question will be answered in the subsequent section).

✅ Following is less formal, and suggests immediacy (On the following day they went home).

✅ While subsequent does too, it can also refer to things that happen as a consequence or because of the first thing, whether they happen immediately after or later on (Subsequent to buying the car, they went on holiday).

What events might happen subsequent to a trip to the hardware store? Write about them with the help of Grammar Coach.

✅ Preceding and prior refer to something that comes before something else (In the preceding book, our hero was kidnapped by the villain; According to a letter sent several days prior, the detective was on his way).

✅ Preceding is almost always used to refer to things that come before something physically or tangibly (the preceding chapter; the preceding month), whereas prior can refer to things that have been previously arranged or decided, though they haven’t happened yet (a prior arrangement; a prior engagement).

✅ Preceding and prior both are almost always followed by nouns. The exception is the phrase ‘prior to’.

Write about turning down a meeting or coffee date due to a prior engagement with the help of Grammar Coach.