formerly
单词辨析：
指从现在起往前推算一段时间，通常和一般过去时的动词连用。
He left a moment ago.
他刚走。
There was a pond here three years ago.
3年前，这里有一个池塘。
指过去某时间之前的时间或泛指以前，通常与动词的现在完成时连用，有时也可与动词的过去完成时或一般过去时连用，也可用于具体的一段时间；在间接引语中用 before 而不用 ago。
Have you heard about it before?
你过去听说过这件事吗？
I have never met him before.
我以前从未见过他。
He said that he had met the man somewhere before.
他说他以前在什么地方见过这个人。
He was in Italy the week before.
他前一个星期在意大利。
泛指以前，有时常用于对比。
Formerly, Ted often lingered around a park, with nothing to do.
从前，特德时常在公园里闲逛，无所事事。
He was formerly a worker, but now he is a manager of a shop.
他曾经是个工人，可现在他是一家商店的经理。
与 before 用法相同，但更加正式。
I haven't met him previously.
我以前没有见过他。
She previously worked as a teacher.
她过去当过教师。
Six months previously he had quitted his job.
6个月前他辞职了。
相关例句：
Fewer people study Latin today than formerly.
现在学拉丁文的人比从前少了。
This latter format is particularly popular among users of IBM iSeries ( formerly AS/ 400).
后一种格式在IBM iSeries（原来的AS/400）的用户中特别受欢迎。
The company formerly belonged to an international banking group.
该公司以前隶属于一个国际银行集团。
Formerly the largest Soviet Socialist Republic in the USSR occupying eastern Europe and northern Asia.
是以前的苏联中最大的苏维埃共和国，占有欧洲东部和亚洲北部。
Who formerly was useless to you but now is useful both to you and to me.
他从前对你没有益处，但如今对你我都有益处。
Formerly the chief magistrate in the republics of Venice and Genoa.
从前，威尼斯和热那亚的主要的文职官员。