Until now - meaning

Question

Until now we have not heard from you.Does the sentence above mean that the person has not heard anything from someone, yet, including the present moment?Or does it mean the act of not hearing has just stopped at the present moment and therefore started to hear now?Please help.  Thanks.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Does the sentence above mean that the person has not heard anything from someone, yet, including the present moment?-- No, now they have heard; they had not heard previously to now.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you, Mister Micawber.

How do I rephrase my original sentence in the present perfect tense to mean that I have not heard including now? Can I change "until now" to "up to now" to include the present moment of "now"?

Up to now, I have not heard from you.

Any other suggested sentences with the now included, please?

Mister Micawber · Answer

No, that does not carry your meaning, either. Try these:

As of now, I have not heard from you.

I have not heard from you yet.

I still have not heard from you.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for your response and suggested sentences.

I would just like to ask for further clarification with regard to the two meanings I've found in the dictionary.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/up+to+now

The first meaning seems to be synonymous to "yet", "so far", as well as "until now". If "up to now"/"until now" is synonymous to "yet"/"so far" here, why is my original sentence cannot be interpreted to include the present moment "now"?

How do we know if the phrase "up to now"/"until now" means the first meaning (yet) or the second meaning (prior to the present time) according to the dictionary? Examples would very much be appreciated.

Mister Micawber · Answer

The first meaning seems to be synonymous to "yet", "so far", as well as "until now". If "up to now"/"until now" is synonymous to "yet"/"so far" here, why is my original sentence cannot be interpreted to include the present moment "now"?-- The definition does not include 'now' either.

Anonymous · Answer

Original sentence: Up to now, I have not heard from you

Suggested sentence: I have not heard from you yet.

If "up to now" is synonymous to "yet", why does my sentence has a different meaning from your suggested sentence? Why does my sentence does not include now when the second sentence does include now? I thought they were synonymous in the dictionary.

Please enlighten me.

Mister Micawber · Answer

Sorry, I think I have confused both you and myself, and the definitions don't help us clarify much:

1. up to now - used in negative statement to describe a situation that has existed up to this point or up to the present time; " Up to now (So far) he hasn't called"; "Up to now, the sun isn't up (yet)".

2. up to now - prior to the present time; "no suspect has been found up to now (to date)".

Since the #2 example is also a negative situation, these seem to tell me that there are two interpretations of the same phrase: #1 'Up to [and including] now, the man has not called'; #2 'Up to [but not including] now, the suspect has not been found'. I fail to see the difference that the dictionary suggests. So perhaps the inclusion of now when using 'up to now' is in the individual speaker's mind and the truth must be negociated by the listener.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for your explanation.

1. I see there are two interpretations of the same phrase which can either include "now" or not.

My understanding is that dictionaries number or arrange meanings according to common usage. Since the inclusion of "now" is the first meaning, ie. labelled #1, do you think the listener should interpret the phrase to include "now" if he can't ask the speaker to clarify and provided the context is still not enough to conclude the meaning?

2. Also, is it correct to use both the underlined phrase in the same sentence? I wonder if it would be redundant.

Up to now, the sun isn't up yet.

3. Since "to date" is used for the example in meaning #2 (prior to the present time) for the phrase "up to now", do you think it is also subject to two interpratations as to whether "now" is included or not? I used to think that the phrase "to date" always included "now". For example, in a resume, 2005 to date, is the same as saying 2005 to present which, I believe, does include "now" or tells about the current situation.

I would very much appreciate your further clarification.

Mister Micawber · Answer

1. I see there are two interpretations of the same phrase which can either include "now" or not.

My understanding is that dictionaries number or arrange meanings according to common usage. Since the inclusion of "now" is the first meaning, ie. labelled #1, do you think the listener should interpret the phrase to include "now" if he can't ask the speaker to clarify and provided the context is still not enough to conclude the meaning? -- You could try that, but some dictionaries arrange their entries historically.

2. Also, is it correct to use both the underlined phrase in the same sentence? I wonder if it would be redundant.

Up to now, the sun isn't up yet.-- Yes, redundant.

3. Since "to date" is used for the example in meaning #2 (prior to the present time) for the phrase "up to now", do you think it is also subject to two interpratations as to whether "now" is included or not? I used to think that the phrase "to date" always included "now". For example, in a resume,2005 to date, is the same as saying 2005 to present which, I believe, does include "now" or tells about the current situation.-- To me, 'to date' includes now.

Anonymous · Answer

The meaning of 'until now' is very simple. It just simply means that action was not done before but you have just started doing it today or now.
e.g. I have not eaten chilly until now. ( from the past till now,you have not eaten chilly only today, you started eating it.)
Hope it helps you.

Until now - meaning

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