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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
We have been here since 7 o'clock until now
I'd be happy if someone would answer my question. Thanks in advance.
Are the following 3 sentences all correct? If so, what's the difference?
I think in A "until now" is redundant.
A: We have been here since 7 o'clock until now.
B: We have been here since 7 o'clock.
C: We have been here from 7 o'clock until now.
Are the following 3 sentences all correct? If so, what's the difference?
I think in A "until now" is redundant.
A: We have been here since 7 o'clock until now.
B: We have been here since 7 o'clock.
C: We have been here from 7 o'clock until now.
Top answer
The "until now" is redundant. The use of the present perfect "We have been here" says that you are still there. B is the superior choice.
- The "until now" is redundant.
- The use of the present perfect "We have been here" says that you are still there.
- B is the superior choice.
- "
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12 Answers
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The "until now" is redundant. The use of the present perfect "We have been here" says that you are still there.
B is the superior choice.
If you were no longer "there" then say "We were there from 7 o'clock until 10."
B is the superior choice.
If you were no longer "there" then say "We were there from 7 o'clock until 10."
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When 'since' is used 'until now' should not be used.
We have been here since 7 o'clock.
I have been a teacher since 1990.
We have been here since 7 o'clock.
I have been a teacher since 1990.
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AnonymousIs C wrong or just awkward?C is definitely wrong.
As I saud earlier, when 'since' is used, 'until now' should never be in the sentence because 'since' refers to the past till the present.
I hope my explanation is clear.
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Is C wrong or just awkward?Actually, I would not call C either wrong or awkward. I would call it redundant. Most redundant expressions are perfectly grammatical; they're just not good in terms of style.
CJ
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C: We have been here from 7 o'clock until now.
I said C is definitely wrong because I thought 'since' was used in the above sentence. That's why I replied "When 'since' is used 'until now' should not be used" and gave the following sentences.
We have been here since 7 o'clock.
I have been a teacher since 1990.
C: We have been here from
I said C is definitely wrong because I thought 'since' was used in the above sentence. That's why I replied "When 'since' is used 'until now' should not be used" and gave the following sentences.
We have been here since 7 o'clock.
I have been a teacher since 1990.
C: We have been here from
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--Hi, CJ. You wrote: "I would call it redundant."
So how about changing C into: We have been here from 7 o'clock.
I think in this sentence, "from 7 o'clock" is the same as "from 7 o'clock until now"
Is it still bad in style? (Of course I know B is best.)
So how about changing C into: We have been here from 7 o'clock.
I think in this sentence, "from 7 o'clock" is the same as "from 7 o'clock until now"
Is it still bad in style? (Of course I know B is best.)
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My mistake. I, too, mistakenly read the sentence as ... since 7 o'clock until now. It was that construction I called redundant -- or believed at the time that I was calling redundant. But no matter. The version with ... from 7 o'clock until now is equally redundant, in my opinion. The present perfect already means until now.
All variants with from
All variants with from
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In the case where you are no longer there, could you also say, "We were there since 8 o'clock," or "We were waiting since 5 o'clock and no one showed?"
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If you're no longer there and you're describing something completely in the past, I'd say somethign like "We waited there from 5:00 onward and no one ever showed."
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