Glossary entry (derived from question below)
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."
"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" |
Jenni Lukac (X)
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5 | nowadays |
Peter Lenny
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5 | hoje em dia |
Fernando Okabe Biazibeti
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4 +1 | these days |
Marlene Curtis
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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
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.
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agree |
Heloísa Ferdinandt
8 hrs
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Good morning and thanks, Heloísa.
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agree |
B D Finch
: Prefer "currently".
17 hrs
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Thanks, BD.
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agree |
mirian terra
: I prefer currently as well :)
1 day 3 hrs
|
Good morning and thanks, mi.
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agree |
Tina Vonhof (X)
1 day 5 hrs
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Good morning and thanks, Tina.
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agree |
Phong Le
8 days
|
Greetings and thanks very much, Phong.
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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
|
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
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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
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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
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
+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)
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I use the expression "these days" (nos dias de hoje, atualmente).
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)
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I use the expression "these days" (nos dias de hoje, atualmente).
Discussion
"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?
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.
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.