Position of "now" in a sentence [closed]
What is the correct position of "now" in the following sentence. What is the rule for this?
- We now consider the second case.
- We consider now the second case.
- We consider the second case now.
- Now we consider the second case
I found on http://www.wordpower.ws/grammar/gramch24.html that it should be after the verb or at the final part of the clause, but what is wrong with the other cases (1) and (4)?
Solution 1:
As Edwin Ashworth observes in his comment, the reference you cite actually says that you can put now at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence, with impunity:
With a few exceptions, such as now, then and once, most adverbs of time may not occupy the middle position of a clause.
The adverbs now, then and once may occupy any of the three positions in a clause. For instance, in the following examples, now occupies the first position, the middle position, and the end position of a clause.
e.g. Now it is time to leave.
It is now time to leave.
It is time to leave now.
In your four examples, now identifies the time period when the "We" of the subject will consider the second case—and it does so regardless of where you park it in the sentence. There is no way for the reader to misconstrue the job that the author wants now to perform, so there are virtually no limitations on where it can go, though I wouldn't put it between to and leave, in this instance.