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Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

nowadays

English answer:

today /currently

Added to glossary by Jenni Lukac (X)
May 27, 2010 17:53
14 yrs ago
4 viewers *
English term

nowadays

English Other Linguistics Grammar
I wrote the sentence below in an English test and my teacher marked the word "nowadays" as an error. Why is it wrong here? Can I appeal?

"ACCORDING TO A RECENT PAPER PUBLISHED BY THE UN, NATURAL DISASTERS AND CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS ARE NOWADAYS ONE OF THE CAUSES OF CONFLICTS BETWEEN NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES."
Responses
4 +6 today (at end of sentence) / currently in the same position as "nowadays"
5 nowadays
5 hoje em dia
4 +1 these days
Change log

May 27, 2010 17:55: Fernanda Rocha changed "Language pair" from "Portuguese to English" to "English to Portuguese"

May 27, 2010 17:56: Fernanda Rocha changed "Language pair" from "English to Portuguese" to "English"

Jun 10, 2010 07:00: Jenni Lukac (X) Created KOG entry

Discussion

Gary D Jun 4, 2010:
I agree with the teacher, it is wrong. Here is how it should have read...using "nowadays"

"According to a recent paper published by the UN, nowadays, natural disasters and climate change are one of the causes of conflicts between neighboring countries."
Can you see the difference?
argosys May 28, 2010:
grammatical It is grammatically correct. The teacher is wrong. This is not to say that the syntax could not be improved -- which is another matter altogether.
B D Finch May 28, 2010:
Beware If you are preparing for an exam, bear in mind that it is just possible that the examiner uses a similar crib-sheet to your teacher's.
Jenni Lukac (X) May 28, 2010:
Friends have often presented me with their childrens' homework and test papers asking my opinion about an answer marked as unacceptable. BD is correct in saying that most language teachers use a crib sheet and the concept of expressing something various ways is thrown out the window. Richard is also correct. Using informal expressions in written documents or excessively formal expressions in conversation to appear fluent in another language all too often backfires.
B D Finch May 28, 2010:
@ Richard Jenkins I disagreed with your first contribution but absolutely agree with the second. There is nothing grammatically wrong with the use of "nowadays" in the Asker's sentence; however, the register is wrong. I somehow doubt whether that was the teacher's reason for marking it as an error. More likely the teacher is not a native speaker of English and had it on a crib sheet of tell-tale, non-native speaker words.
David Hollywood May 28, 2010:
all I can say is that you're right and the "corrections" are ok too but what you put is fine in English (tough to contradict the teacher though lol)
David Hollywood May 28, 2010:
fight your corner and "nowadays" is fine ...:)
David Hollywood May 28, 2010:
oh come on Richard "nowadys" is absolutely ok :)
David Hollywood May 28, 2010:
I think "nowadays" is perfectly ok ... you could use "currently" but fight your case as "nowadays" is ok (natiive speaker)
David Hollywood May 28, 2010:
is your English teacher a native English speaker?
R. Alex Jenkins May 27, 2010:
I agree with fvasconcellos As an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher of intermediate and advanced English students in the past, "nowadays" is one of those words that students 'catch on to' and use in abundance.

It's not formal enough for your particular context.

Let me give you some examples of where you CAN and perhaps should use "nowadays".

- Nowadays, I like to wear my hair in an 80's shaggy perm style.

- I used to play a lot of video games but nowadays I don't.

That sort of thing... it's casual. I hope that helps.
Filippe Vasconcellos de Freitas Guimarães May 27, 2010:
And... While grammatically correct, "natural disasters and climate change effects" would probably read better as "natural disasters and the effects of climate change". I agree with Richard, "currently" would be much better here, and even plain old "now" would suffice.

Usage of "nowadays" is much, much more widespread among non-native speakers of English—in fact, as any ESL instructor will tell you, it's one of the telltale "red flags" of non-native writing—especially speakers of Portuguese and Spanish. It's probably interference from the widespread use of "hoje em dia" and "hoy en día" in conversational settings.
R. Alex Jenkins May 27, 2010:
suggestions This isn't really the right area for this sort of question, but seeing as you're already here... :) Yes, I agree with your teacher, sorry; "nowadays" isn't grammatically correct here. What about 'currently'?

Responses

+6
2 hrs
Selected

today (at end of sentence) / currently in the same position as "nowadays"

These are my suggestions for making the statement more formal. Richard has given good examples. In English, as in Spanish, it is important to make the distinction between informal spoken language and formal written style.
Peer comment(s):
agree Kim Metzger
1 hr
Good morning and thanks, Kim.
agree Heloísa Ferdinandt
8 hrs
Good morning and thanks, Heloísa.
agree B D Finch : Prefer "currently".
17 hrs
Thanks, BD.
agree mirian terra : I prefer currently as well :)
1 day 3 hrs
Good morning and thanks, mi.
agree Tina Vonhof (X)
1 day 5 hrs
Good morning and thanks, Tina.
agree Phong Le
8 days
Greetings and thanks very much, Phong.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
6 mins

nowadays

I think you should first ask your teacher why it was marked wrong, then work with that.
Peer comment(s):
neutral R. Alex Jenkins : I don't think that "nowadays" is the right word for this particular sentence. It's too informal, for a start.
1 min
Something went wrong...
25 mins

hoje em dia

The word exists, but your using it in the wrong way. I'll leave at that.

Babylon English-Portuguese

nowadays
adv. hoje em dia; nos nossos dias, nos dias de hoje

Babylon English

nowadays
adv. at the present time; in these times

nowadays

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noun
1. the period of time that is happening now; any continuous stretch of time including the moment of speech; "that is enough for the present"; "he lives in the present with no thought of tomorrow"
(synonym) present
(hypernym) time
(hyponym) now

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adverb
1. in these times; "it is solely by their language that the upper classes nowadays are distinguished"- Nancy Mitford; "we now rarely see horse-drawn vehicles on city streets"; "today almost every home has television"
(synonym) now, today
Something went wrong...
+1
44 mins

these days

The Oil Slick, Natural Disasters and Importance of Portable ...
May 18, 2010 ... Natural disasters and industrial incidents are not in short supply these days. Both newspapers and the evening news are documenting tornados ...
blogs.dlt.com/oil-slick-natural-disasters-importance-portable-satellite-imagery/ - Cached

Stop Natural Disasters Before They Start... with Democracy!
Natural disaster humor is getting really popular these days. ... Someone needs to speak out against these natural disasters, and I am that someone. ...
www.somethingawful.com/d/news/stop-natural-disasters.php

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Note added at 1 hr (2010-05-27 19:27:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I use the expression "these days" (nos dias de hoje, atualmente).
Peer comment(s):
agree Kim Metzger
3 hrs
Thanks!
Something went wrong...
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