By now meaning in English

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Definition

by now: up to this moment adverb

Examples

  • "You should know by now that she handles all my appointments."
  • "By now, you've no doubt read the newspapers: devastating earthquakes, deadly floods, fatal epidemics, terrorist attacks, destructive hurricanes and death tolls in the thousands, and that's just on the front page!"
  • "I hope that you're out of prison by now, because I don't think they let you check your email in there."
  • "If it weren't for all the perfume in the air, I'd probably be asleep by now."
  • "It's a solid program all around, the only problem is that it's probably a little out of date by now."
Exercise 1
Select the sentence(s) below which use(s) the expression "by now" correctly.

There may be more than one correct answer!
Select the sentence(s) below which use(s) the expression "by now" correctly.

There may be more than one correct answer!
This sentence is not correct. We could say "I want you to do your homework now" (do it immediately) or "I hope that you have done your homework by now" (you should have done it in the past). "By now" refers to the past and the present, not the future.
This sentence uses "by now" correctly. If something should have happened "by now", it should have ALREADY happened before the present moment. Here's another example: "If you don't know me by now, you will never know me".
"By now" is used correctly here. This sentence could also be expressed as "you should be in bed already".

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