In reply to Lakoff's (1970: 'Linguistics and natural logic') proposal that there are two different 'before'-words, one with positive and one with negative presuppositions, H. suggests that there is only one 'before' and that the context determines whether the before-clause or its negation is understood to be a valid inference (e.g. whether 'before Sue punched anyone' presupposes that she did or did not punch anyone).