Now NOW with present simple? Is it possible/natural?

[Dominik92]

Hello all.


Is it possible (and correct) to use present simple tense with the word NOW? I would expect seeing present continuous with the word now rather than present simple.I´ve found two sentences and I would like to ask you what would be the difference if they were written in the pressent continuous form.

1) The images still haunt me now as they will be for a long time, I am sure. (This is from my textbook - woman is complaining about TV news as last report was to cruel for her and her son to watch.)

2) Now I choose. ( This comes from the song you can see below)


Here is the part of the song:

Close the door
Let it all go
No regrets
Cause now I choose
This time I fly away with you
Now I choose
This time I’m gonna stay with you

Thank you!

 

[bhaisahab]

"The images still haunt me now" and "Now I choose" are perfectly OK in the proper context. Your sentence 1) would be fine without "be" after "will".

 

[Dominik92]

I can use present simple + NOW as now doesn't have to refer to a short period of time only? I mean that now can be one or two years long period of time and therefore there is no need to use present continuous?

P.S. The present simple in the song I quoted - is it a normal usage of present simple or is it more likely to be an imperativ?

Thanks

 

[Raymott]

Close the door - imperative (possibly to yourself); or possibly indicative meaning "I close the door".
Let it all go - imperative (as above)
No regrets - nothing (possibly means "I have no regrets")
Cause now I choose - present
This time I fly away with you - present
Now I choose - present
This time I’m gonna stay with you - future.

None of this is normal grammar. It's acceptable only because it's a song.
No, "now" with the simple present has nothing to do with the length of time, only with the song format. "Now I can choose" could be used to mean that finally you can choose over a long period of time.

 

[Dominik92]

The sentence: The images still haunt me now is correct even though there is that NOW. I assume it is just up to me whether I want to emphasise temporary status of the situation or not. But not necessarily. Now doesn't play any role from the point of temporality of the situation. Do I get it right?

 

[Raymott]

In this case, "The images still haunt me" would be enough. It's understood that you're talking about now. You can add now if you want to. The temporality word is "still", which implies now in this case. In fact, the images may not be haunting you now (at this exact moment). If you say "The images are haunting me now", you are talking about this moment.
"The images still haunt me now" means that you still have times when the images haunt you, but you are not necessarily being haunted at the time of speaking.

 

[Dominik92]

Close the door - imperative (possibly to yourself); or possibly indicative meaning "I close the door".
Let it all go - imperative (as above)
No regrets - nothing (possibly means "I have no regrets")
Cause now I choose - present
This time I fly away with you - present
Now I choose - present
This time I’m gonna stay with you - future.

None of this is normal grammar. It's acceptable only because it's a song.
No, "now" with the simple present has nothing to do with the length of time, only with the song format. "Now I can choose" could be used to mean that finally you can choose over a long period of time.

Only "Now I CAN choose " means that I can choose over a long period of time? I have seen many sentences constructed as : I choose people who are fully responsible for the actions of my team. OR: I choose people I want to work with. In my sentences there doesn't have to be CAN I would say! I may didn't get it , though.

 

[Raymott]

You don't have to use "can", if you mean now.

 

[Dominik92]

You don't have to use "can", if you mean now.

I am getting lost in it here a bit.

I don´t want to seem as somebody who pounce on everything you say but as far as I know I could perfectly say:


I choose people I want to work with. and I can choose people I want to work with. Both sentences could mean that I (can) choose now, couldn´t they?



If I may ask you about the song once again : Do I get it right that there is just one really unordinary structure which can hardly be heard from a native speaker? In my opinion the structure which falls into this category is " This time I fly with you" ? This one seems to be really unusual to me.



Thank you and I am sorry if there is something I am overlooking.

Dominik

 

[emsr2d2]

"I choose [the] people I want to work with" refers to the present.

"I can choose the people I want to work with" could refer to the present or the future.
"I work at a great company and I can choose the people I want to work with."
"I am going to start work at a great company next week and they've told me I can choose the people I want to work with."

 

[Raymott]

My above response meant: If you are choosing now, you can say "I choose now". You don't need to say you can choose now. I was agreeing with you.You can't say "I choose people" if you can't choose people. You can't say "I choose people now" if you can't choose people now".
That means that if you choose people now, it implies that you can choose people now. (Because you can't do something that you can't do.) As I said, you don't have to say that you can do something if you mean you are doing it now - because if you couldn't do it, you wouldn't be doing it. [Sorry the question is from a month ago. I'm trying to work out your question again].


"This time I fly away with you" is unnatural. "Now I choose" is also unnatural. We would normally say "Now I will choose" or "Now I am choosing". But there is nothing wrong with your song. It's a song.