When helping an Italian speaker with her written homework, a cover letter, I told her to change the expression nowadays to that of today. Her original sentence was the following:
I would be delighted to work for your company, as it is one of the most important software companies nowadays.
She asked why it was better to change that expression. I said it didn't sound "right". She looked at me quizzically, so I mumbled something about it being a question of register and collocation but frankly, I'm not sure.
I had better add that she wants to sit the Cambridge English exam Advanced, CAE, so I was wondering whether an examiner would look unfavourably on the expression.
Moreover, I would like to know if nowadays is considered a compound word? Until today, I thought it was made up of three words; now, a and days. But etymonline tells me that it was originally two words: now and adayes. Adayes used to mean "during the day", which I think is lovely and I wish it would make a comeback. In any case, did the hyphenated form, now-adayes ever existed?
I know there is a similar question on ELU to this one, "Nowadays" vs "today" but it hasn't really answered any of my questions.