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Q&A Past tense writing troubles. Specifically the word "Now"

There are two uses for "now". One means the present moment, and it's hard to use in the past tense. I mean, you could write: "You have to do it now," I told her. And even I told her now w...

posted 8y ago by Kate Gregory‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:08:15Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26812
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Kate Gregory‭ · 2019-12-08T06:08:15Z (almost 5 years ago)
There are two uses for "now". One means the present moment, and it's hard to use in the past tense. I mean, you could write:

> "You have to do it now," I told her.

And even

> I told her now was the time to act.

But not

> Now I was on the plane.

Instead, you can use phrases like

- at that time (if you have already set up the time period)
- once (or even once upon a time)
- 5 years ago
- in the spring of my 25th year
- shortly after my father died
- several years before this trip

and so on. If none of them fit, why do you want to start the sentence with "Now"? It's possible you want the second use for now, which is to start a sentence with it to get people's attention, or as part of some set phrases:

> Now look here, young man, I expect you to obey me!
> 
> Now now, that's just too extreme.
> 
> Now and then I get lonely
> 
> Now what?
> 
> Now this is new!

You can just keep these uses without worrying.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-02-19T23:42:09Z (almost 8 years ago)
Original score: 0