Difference Between Soon, Early and Quickly

Difference Between Soon, Early and Quickly

Summary:  Difference Between Soon, Early and Quickly is that Soon means ‘a short time after now or then’. Early means ‘near the beginning of a period of time we are talking about’ and we use quickly to refer to the speed with which something is done.

Soon

Soon means ‘a short time after now’.

• Get well soon. (NOT Get well early.)
• We will launch a new edition of this book sometime

Soon can also mean ‘a short time after then’.

• It was difficult in the beginning, but I soon got used to it. (NOT It was difficult in the beginning, but I early got used to it.)

Early

Early means ‘near the beginning of a period of time we are talking about’. Early does not mean soon.
Compare:

• Early this week, I had a strange experience. (NOT Soon this week, I had a strange experience.)
• He had an accident early this month.
• He will soon have an accident if he continues to drive like this. (NOT He will early have an accident…)
• I get up early in the morning. (NOT I get up soon in the morning.)

Early can mean ‘before the expected time’.

• I arrived early.

Early can be used as an adjective.

• We will be grateful for an early reply.

Quickly

There is a difference between soon and quickly. We use quickly to refer to the speed with which something is done. Soon means ‘before long’.

• I got dressed = (I didn’t take a lot of time to get dressed.)