He was with the gorillas now.

[giddyman]

Hello, teachers. Please help me with the usage of "now" in the following context. I think "now" should be "then".

Brian was three years old. He went to the zoo with his mother. He wanted to see gorillas. Brian ran to the gorillas. He climbed a fence. Then he fell. He fell 18 feet. He was with the gorillas now. Seven gorillas walked to him. One gorilla was a mother. Her name was Binti. Binti picked up Brian. She carried him to a door. She stood at the door. She held Brian. She patted Brian on the back. Binti was a good mother! A man came to the door. Binti gave Brian to the man. Brian went to the hospital. He had a broken arm, but he was OK.

 

[tedmc]

Now is sometimes used in a narrative to put the reader right into the picture, to give a sense of immediacy, and is more effective than using then. Granted, by convention, now is changed to then in reported speech but the latter tends to give a sense of remoteness from the scene.

 

[Rover_KE]

giddyman, please tell us the source and author of the quoted text.

 

[giddyman]

The text is from an English study book published in South Korea. I don't think this book is written by a native English speaker. Author name is not shown in the book.

 

[Rover_KE]

The text is from an English study book published in South Korea. I don't think this book was written by a native English speaker. The author's name is not shown in the book.

Thank you. In future threads, please give us us this information in post #1.