Past vs Now - What's the difference?
past | now |
The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.
* D. Webster
* Trench
(grammar) The past tense.
Having already happened; in the past; finished.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=7 (postmodifier) Following expressions of time to indicate how long ago something happened; ago.
* 1999 , (George RR Martin), A Clash of Kings , Bantam 2011, p. 538:
* 2009 , , Glencoe , Amberley 2009, p. 20:
Of a period of time: having just gone by; previous.
* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=April 23, work=(The Guardian), author=Angelique Chrisafis
, title=François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election
(grammar) Of a tense, expressing action that has already happened or a previously-existing state.
beyond in place, quantity or time
* {{quote-news
, year=2012
, date=April 22
, author=Sam Sheringham
, title=Liverpool 0-1 West Brom
, work=BBC Sport
Present; current.
* 17th C , , Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; in an Essay of the Vanity of Dogmatizing and Confident Opinion , 1885,
* 1855 , Conrad Swackhamer, The United States democratic review , Volume 5?,
* 1908 , The English reports ,
* 2010 March 17, The Telegraph'', news website, ''
(archaic, legal) At the time the will is written. Used in order to prevent any inheritance from being transferred to a person of a future marriage. Does not indicate the existence of a previous marriage.
(informal) Fashionable; popular; up to date; current.
At the present time.
* Arbuthnot
(sentence)
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=3
, passage=Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.}}
Differently from the immediate past; differently from a more remote past or a possible future; differently from all other times.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.}}
Differently from the situation before a stated event or change of circumstance.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= At the time reached within a narration.
(obsolete) Very recently; not long ago.
* Waller
since something is true : because of the fact that something happened
: Now you mention it, I am kind of hungry.
since, because, in light of the fact.
— usually + that
: Now that you mention it, I am kind of hungry.
: Now that''' we're all here, let's start the meeting. = Let's start the meeting '''now that everyone's here.
Indicates a signal to begin.
(uncountable) The present time.
# The state of not paying attention to the future or the past.
# A particular instant in time, as perceived at that instant.
#* (Emily Dickinson)
#* {{quote-book, ##*, 1982, Albert Hofstadter, The Basic Problems of Phenomenology, by=Martin Heidegger, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=VmatHCLJ4Q4C&pg=PA249, page=249
, passage=Time is not thrust together and summed up out of nows , but the reverse: with reference to the now we can articulate the stretching out of time always only in specific ways.}}
As a verb past
is .As a noun now is
new moon.past
English
(wikipedia past)Noun
(en noun)- a book about a time machine that can transport people back into the past
- The past , at least, is secure.
- The present is only intelligible in the light of the past , often a very remote past indeed.
Derived terms
(Terms derived from the noun "past") * blast from the past * in the past * past anterior * past continuous * past historic * past participle * past perfect * past progressive * past simple * past tense * simple pastSee also
* preteriteAdjective
(en adjective)citation, passage=The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.}}
- That had been, what, three years past ?
- Some four decades past , as a boy, I had a chance encounter and conversation with the late W.A. Poucher [...].
citation, passage=Sarkozy's total will be seen as a personal failure. It is the first time an outgoing president has failed to win a first-round vote in the past 50 years and makes it harder for Sarkozy to regain momentum.}}
Preposition
(English prepositions)- the room past mine
- count past twenty
- past midnight
citation, page= , passage=But they were stunned when Glen Johnson's error let in Peter Odemwingie to fire past Pepe Reina on 75 minutes.}}
Usage notes
* The preposition past is used to tell the time. The time 5:05 is said as five past five. 5:10 as ten past five. 5:15 as quarter past five. 5:20 as twenty past five. 5:25 as twenty-five past five. 5:30 as half past five. If we are aware of the approximate time, we can just use e.g. five past, ten past etc. See the example below. *: I thought it was about six o'clock, but it was actually ten past . * Compare with to (five to, ten to, quarter to, twenty to, twenty-five to) * See also: o'clockStatistics
*Anagrams
* 1000 English basic words ----now
English
(wikipedia now)Adjective
(-)page 207,
- Defects seem as necessary to our now happiness as their Opposites.
- The history of the infant colonies teaches us that the country comprised within the limits of the now United States of America was originally patented in the reign of James I., of England, into two portions:'' that in less than eighty years from that period, the same was again divided into ''twelve'' distinct provinces; a ''thirteenth being after added in the creation of the State of Georgia.
- Where in assumpsit for money lent, the defendant pleaded that in an action in which the now' defendant was plaintiff, and the ' now plaintiff was defendant,.
Radio 4 apologises for day old shipping forecast,
- Radio 4's continuity announcer said at the end of the show: "As many of you will have noticed, that edition of The Now Show wasn't very now . It was actually last week's programme. Our apologies for that."
- Now wife.
- I think this band's sound is very now .
See also
* happeningAdverb
(-)- I have a patient now living, at an advanced age, who discharged blood from his lungs thirty years ago.
The attack of the MOOCs, passage=Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations.}}
- They that but now , for honour and for plate, / Made the sea blush with blood, resign their hate.
Derived terms
* nowadays * now and then * right now *Conjunction
(English Conjunctions)- ''We can play football now that the rain has stopped.
Interjection
(en-interj)!- ''Now! Fire all we've got while the enemy is in reach!
Noun
(en-noun)- Now is the right time.
- There is no better time than now .
- She is living in the now .
- Forever is composed of nows .
