“By Now” – Meaning & Usage Guide (Helpful Examples)

The phrase “by now” is a common way to talk about how things might come to an end at the present time. This article will look at how the phrase works in a sentence structure and where the best place for you to put it will be.

What Does “By Now” Mean?

“By now” means that something is ending at present. We use “by” as a preposition to talk about the end of a particular time. “Now” means the present, so combining the two words gives us a way of saying that something is ending now or should be happening now.

by now meaning usage

“By now” is a good way to emphasize a sentence that’s dependent on time. For example, we might want to emphasize that we should be doing a particular thing or activity “by now,” but something might have come up that prevented us from doing so.

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Can I Start A Sentence With “By Now”?

By now at the beginning of a sentence is possible to use, and it would help for you to understand how. As a phrase, there’s nothing wrong with putting it at the start of a sentence in this way.

You can start a sentence with “by now” when you want to emphasize when an event is supposed to take place or how much time has passed. We can use it at the start to really stress the situation that we’re currently in.

If you’re not quite sure what we mean, we can demonstrate it as follows:

  • We should have been at school by now.
  • By now, we should have been at school.

As you can see, “by now” at the start of a sentence places much more emphasis on the thing that we should be doing. Usually, something will have come up that might have affected our plans in some way.

Here are some other examples to help you understand it:

  1. By now, there won’t be much left on the buffet table.
  2. By now, we should have visited my father.
  3. By now, I should have heard whether I got into the school!
  4. By now, they could have told us everything we needed to do to stay safe.
  5. By now, my mother should have contacted me.

Can I End A Sentence With “By Now”?

You can also end a sentence with “By now” in the same way. We briefly touched on it in the previous section, but let’s show you a little more about it.

You can end a sentence with “by now” when you want to emphasize where you should be. It works the same as placing it at the start of a sentence, but we instead include the dependent clause at the end of the sentence.

The position of the prepositional phrase “by now” is very important for the overall sentence meaning. We can use it at the end when we want to show that something should have happened by now but hasn’t.

Realistically, starting and ending a sentence with the phrase is synonymous for most native speakers. Many people won’t pay attention to the differences in emphasis that some other people might believe in.

Here’s how we can use it:

  1. We should have visited everyone on the list by now.
  2. You could have told me all of this by now!
  3. I wished I could have seen my mother by now.
  4. There would have been a major catastrophe by now.
  5. We should have seen them coming down the street by now.

Can I Use “By Now” In The Middle Of A Sentence?

Finally, let’s look at how we can place the prepositional phrase in the middle of a sentence. This one works in a similar way to how it works at the end of a sentence, but we usually include more information.

You can place “by now” in the middle of a sentence when you want to add further information to it. Generally, we place it at the end of the first clause and then include an “if” or “but” scenario that might add further information to what happened “by now.”

It’s common to see a comma separate “by now” from the second clause, and we’ll show you how that looks:

  1. We should have seen them coming by now if they were already on their way.
  2. We could have been there by now, but you had to put your makeup on!
  3. They would have told us by now if you weren’t so difficult to talk to!
  4. She could have seen us by now, but she apparently went to the wrong room.
  5. I could have been in Italy by now had my plane tickets not been canceled.

As you can see, in the middle of a sentence, we use “by now” to break up another clause after it. This clause works to add further information to the sentence, which we might not have received.

Where Should I Place The Comma When Using “By Now”?

There are three different ways to use “by now” in a sentence. Since we can use it in the beginning, middle, and end, we thought it only fair to split this part into sections to show you how to punctuate the phrase.

Beginning

At the beginning of a sentence, “by now” is part of a dependent clause. Therefore, it always needs a comma directly after the phrase. There are no exceptions to this rule.

The comma works to break up the flow of the sentence. It is required whenever we place the dependent clause of “by now” before the independent clause in the sentence.

  1. By now, you might have already realized what is happening.
  2. By now, there isn’t much more you can do.

Middle

In the middle of a sentence, “by now” only needs to be punctuated with a comma when the new clause starts with conjunctions like “but.” If the new clause starts with a simpler word like “if,” we do not include a comma after “by now.”

Here are the two cases for how commas work in the middle of a sentence:

  1. We could have been there by now, but you insisted on traveling in this slow car!
  2. You would be there by now if you took the right exit when I told you to!

End

At the end of a sentence, there is no reason to place a comma with “by now.” Since it’s a dependent clause after an independent clause, the two clauses can connect without the sentence needing to be broken up.

The only punctuation needed at the end of a sentence with “by now” is a period. Here’s how it looks:

  1. We should have been to see them by now.
  2. You could have told me that by now.

What Is The Difference Between “By Now” And “Now”?

If we remove the preposition “by” from the phrase, does the meaning stay the same? No, not quite.

“By now” typically means that something stops happening at the present time. “Now” means that something has started to happen at present, and it will continue to happen in the same way going forward.

Here’s how the two could work:

  • By now, we could have been bathing in the sunshine!
  • Now, there are many things that people are doing differently.
  • We could have been there by now!
  • It’s difficult to talk to people now.

What Is The Difference Between “By Now” And “For Now”?

“By now” means that something has finished happening in the present time. “For now” means that something is currently true and happening, but it’s likely to change or stop happening in the future.

Here’s how these two differ in example form:

  • By now, you would have heard the news.
  • For now, there isn’t much more we can do to help you.
  • You could have had everything you wanted by now.
  • We didn’t say anything more about it for now.

What Is The Difference Between “By Now” And “So Far”?

“By now” means that something is finished at present. “So far” means that something has been happening the same way up until the present, and it will continue in the same way for a while longer. However, there is a chance that it can change.

  • By now, we could have been on holiday.
  • So far, there isn’t much we can do to change their opinion.

“By Now” – Synonyms

While “by now” is a great way to show how something should have happened at present, we can still look for good synonyms for the phrase. These alternatives are some of your best choices for beginning or ending a sentence.

  • Right now
  • At this moment
  • At this time
  • At this current time
  • At this exact hour
  • Already
  • By this point
  • By this time

Is “By Now” Formal?

Finally, let’s look a little more into the formality of the phase and whether it’s acceptable in formal cases.

“By now” works as a formal phrase, but we can also use it informally depending on the context. There is nothing wrong with using it in a formal situation, and many native speakers will do so when showing that something hasn’t happened as expected.