Advance vs. Advanced

How to use "advance" and "advanced" correctly

This is an entry on my list of Common Errors in English Usage. Visit the main page for direct links to additional entries.

Some people are under the impression that only the word advanced (the past participle form of the verb to advance) can be used as an adjective. In fact, the word advance itself can be an adjective when it refers to something ahead of time, though it is generally only used before a noun:

advanced age
advanced technology
Their technology was advanced.

advance party sent to secure the area
advance notice
Awkward: ~~The notice was advance.~~

Related Resources

Common Errors in English Usage: Errors in diction and idiom commonly made by native speakers of English

List of Common Errors in English Usage (PDF): Printable version of the complete list

Common Grammar Errors: A list of common errors in grammar (topics like subject-verb agreement and parallelism) as distinct from usage

List of Common Errors in English Usage: PDF version