Asked by: Prof. Tyrel Marvin I
Score: 4.7/5
(44 votes)
There’s only one way to spell nowadays—as one word. Even though this adverb evolved from the Middle English now adays, spelling it as more than one word today is a mistake. You shouldn’t write it as now a days, nowdays, nowaday, or any other spelling: You can’t buy spirits if you’re a minor now a days .
Is nowadays proper English?
Yes, that’s right: «nowadays» is technically correct, but colloquial. It is perfectly acceptable in oral speech, but it strikes the wrong tone in written English — because it is so informal or colloquial.
How do you use nowadays in a sentence?
Nowadays Sentence Examples
- Yes, everything is different nowadays, everything is changed.
- Nowadays, you’d be scared someone would kidnap a child but in the old days, no one ever thought of that stuff.
- Nowadays everybody designs laws, it is easier writing than doing.
When did nowadays become a word?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use of this word was in 1362. It originates from a Middle English phrase that was originally written as three words, forming nou A dayes.
What can I use instead of nowadays?
Synonyms & Antonyms of nowadays
- anymore,
- currently,
- now,
- presently,
- right now,
- today.
31 related questions found
How do you write now a days?
Nowadays or Now a Days?
- Nowadays is the only correct spelling of this word.
- Spelling the word as three words—now a days—is incorrect.
What kind of word is nowadays?
Nowadays is an adverb — Word Type.
What is meant by now a days?
: at the present time. See the full definition for nowadays in the English Language Learners Dictionary. nowadays. adverb. now·a·days | ˈnau̇-ə-ˌdāz
Which tense is used with nowadays?
Nowadays is typically used with the simple present tense, as in the examples above, but it is fine to use it with a continuous tense, as long as you are referring to a something that repeats over a period of time.
How do you use the word mistake in a sentence?
Mistake sentence example
- I won’t make the mistake I made with you before. …
- I made a really bad mistake and I don’t know what to do. …
- Maybe it was a mistake to come here. …
- Only a mistake would give the Others away and might be all that stood between life and death. …
- Sometimes I make a mistake and do the wrong thing.
Is nowadays formal?
Nowadays is colloquial, unlikely to be used in formal writing.
Do we say this days or these days?
We use ‘these days’ to refer to the present time. «Young people are always on screens these days.» «It’s hard to find people who don’t own a smartphone these days.» ‘Those days’ can refer to some period in the past.
Can we use nowadays at the end of a sentence?
Do we use «nowadays» at the beginning or end of sentences? Both positions are correct. Nowadays it’s easy to buy foreign products. It’s easy to buy foreign products nowadays.
How do you write no one?
The correct way to spell no one is as two words, without the hyphen: No one warned us about the incoming storm. We went to the schoolyard, but there was no one there. If you add a hyphen to no one, you get a much less common variant spelling of the word: no-one.
How can I speak English in Google?
Set your language
- On your Android phone or tablet, open the Wear OS app.
- Under «Settings,» tap Google Assistant. Settings.
- Tap Preferences. Assistant language.
- Choose a language. To change the primary language, tap your current language. To add another language, tap Add a language.
How can I improve speaking fluency?
- 6 Ways To Improve Your Speaking Fluency In English. Home. …
- Let go of your ego. The first and most important thing you can do as a language learner is to let go of your ego. …
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- Discipline.
How do you use these days?
We can use nowadays, these days or today as adverbs meaning ‘at the present time, in comparison with the past’:
- I don’t watch TV very much nowadays. …
- Young people nowadays don’t respect their teachers any more.
- These days you never see a young person give up their seat for an older person on the bus.
What is these in grammar?
This and these are demonstratives, which means they indicate a specific noun in a sentence. The two words are similar because they refer to nouns that are near in space and time. This is used with singular or uncountable nouns (i.e. this egg or this music). These refers to plural nouns (i.e. these cookies).
What does the phrase in this day and age mean?
Definition of in this day and age
: at the present time in history : nowadays Computers are essential to getting work done in this day and age.
What is another way to say more and more?
More-and-more synonyms
In this page you can discover 8 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for more-and-more, like: increasingly, progressively, increasing in number, increasing, more frequently, frequently, increasing in size and increasing in weight.
What is another word some?
synonyms for some
- a few.
- any.
- a bit.
- a little.
- part of.
As languages age, they evolve to match usage trends and broad cultural shifts. At the word level, this sometimes means that spelling changes, or that phrases containing multiple words are condensed into a single word, often through compounding.
In one prominent example, the word nowadays was originally a three-word phrase, now a dayes, from the 14th century.
Today, however, it almost always appears as a single word. But is this shortening a mistake, or does it represent the healthy and necessarily evolution of English? Continue reading to discover whether you should use nowadays or stick with now a days.
What is the Difference Between Nowadays and Now a Days?
In this post, I will compare nowadays vs. now a days. I will outline when it is appropriate to use each spelling. Plus, I will demonstrate the use of a memory tool that you can use to help you remember whether to use nowadays or now a days in your own writing.
When to Use Nowadays
What does nowadays mean? Nowadays is an adverb that means at the present time. Nowadays is a synonym of its fellow adverbs, presently and currently.
See the sentences below for examples,
- Nowadays, people don’t build cars like the ’63 Corvette coupe anymore.
- Nowadays, the domination of the MacBook Pro in an increasingly competitive ultrabook space is no longer taken as a given.
- My perspective on world affairs is quite different nowadays than it was even a few short years ago.
- These should be graded outward and downward from the swamp’s wettest areas. Then lay drainage “tiles”—nowadays large sections of plastic pipe are used—in the trenches. –The Wall Street Journal
When to Use Now a Days
What does now a days mean? Now a days represents an inferior variant of the word nowadays.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use of this word was in 1362. It originates from a Middle English phrase that was originally written as three words, forming nou A dayes.
In its first 100 or so years of use, a few spellings existed, including nou A dayes, nou adaies, now a dayes, nowadayes, etc. After some time, a hyphenated version that more resembles the phrase we see today began to gain ground: now-a-days.
Today, however, the term is invariably combined into a single word without spaces. The following graph shows the frequency of nowadays vs. now a days vs. now-a-days in contemporary English.
Of course, this graph only looks at published English sources since the year 1800, so it is not scientific, or exhaustively accurate. It still clearly shows that the single word nowadays is the standard variant of this phrase.
Trick to Remember the Difference
In modern written English, you should always choose nowadays. Despite the word’s origins as a three-word phrase, today, almost all writers use the single-word form, and popular style guides including The AP Stylebook advise their writers to use the single word variant, without hyphens. To revert to the original variant would be needlessly distracting to your readers.
For a reminder that nowadays is the correct version, remember that its synonyms currently and presently are also single words. This should make it easy for you to keep these words straight in your mind.
Summary
Is it nowadays or now a days? The adverb nowadays used to be a three-word phrase several centuries ago, but at least since 1880, writers have shortened it into a single word.
- The single word nowadays is the favored spelling in Modern English.
- Now a days is no longer considered correct.
- The hyphenated now-a-days has also fallen out of use.
Since its synonyms currently and presently are also a single word, it should be no trouble to remember to choose nowadays over now a days.
Remember, you can always check this site for a quick refresher, or any time you have questions about writing and language.
Contents
- 1 What is the Difference Between Nowadays and Now a Days?
- 2 When to Use Nowadays
- 3 When to Use Now a Days
- 4 Trick to Remember the Difference
- 5 Summary
Published on
November 25, 2022
by
Eoghan Ryan.
Revised on
March 14, 2023.
Nowadays is an adverb meaning “at present” or “in comparison with a past time.”
“Now a days,” written with spaces, is sometimes used instead of nowadays. However, this is not correct and should be avoided. Other variants such as “now-a-days,” “now days,” “nowdays,” and “nowaday” are also wrong.
- Now a days, many people work from home.
- Nowadays, many people work from home.
- April used to work for a large firm, but now a days she runs a small legal practice.
- April used to work for a large firm, but nowadays she runs a small legal practice.
How to use nowadays in a sentence
Nowadays is an adverb meaning “at the present time.” It’s used to draw a comparison between the present and the past. When used at the start of a sentence, nowadays is followed by a comma.
Nowadays, there are many streaming platforms.
Other interesting language articles
If you want to know more about commonly confused words, definitions, common mistakes, and differences between US and UK spellings, make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations, examples, and quizzes.
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Sometimes, when it comes to spelling, we might feel like we’re in a daze, especially when it comes to words that we hear said more than we see written.
If you were writing this phrase in the fourteenth century—if you were lucky enough to know how to read or write in that era—you would have been using a multiple word form, but language has evolved since then.
Nowadays, the correct spelling is “nowadays”—all one word. No hyphens or spaces needed.
People seem to get nervous around words like this, as if they’re just sticking things together that don’t really belong, portmanteaus like baconator or sharknado. But like spork and netiquette, this is a mashup that truly works.
“Nowdays,” on the other hand, is simply a typo. I feel like I have days like that sometimes, when everyone seems to want things now, now now… but that’s not really what anyone’s going for with this attempt at spelling.
Got it? Good.