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Suppose I get home and find an email from a friend that was sent while I was out. I reply by apologising that I didn't respond earlier since I was out. Is it better to say

"It's only now that I find your email, I've been out."

or

"It's only now that I'm finding your email, I've been out."

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  • "I just found your email / now " or "I only just found your email / now" might be simpler?
    – A. Joe
    Dec 9, 2016 at 23:59
  • Thanks for your answers! My question was a technical one, namely distinguishing between the present simple and the present continuous, as stated in the headline. I knew the present simple was the better of the two options, I only wanted to have a few other opinions. The construction I chose was deliberately pedantic, so as to only admit of those two possibilities (and maybe also the present perfect). I was in no doubt that "I've only just seen your email" was a more natural way of putting it, but once again, the point was to distinguish between the present simple and the present continuous.
    – Dan
    Dec 10, 2016 at 22:44

2 Answers 2

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If you want to get really technical, you're at the point of replying, so you're no longer "finding" the email; you've already found it.

Given that, if I had to choose between the two, I'd use the following:

"It is only now that I find your email."

However, neither of your options read very easily - they both sound somewhat forced. If I was in your position, I would write something like this:

"I've only just seen your email."

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  • This sounds so unnatural to my ear. Pedantic.
    – aparente001
    Dec 10, 2016 at 6:46
  • @aparente001, Dan asked which sounds better so I've stated which of the two I think is the best and provided the nearest alternative. Personally I think both sound unnatural and would write something like: "I've only just seen your email." But that wasn't the question was it?...
    – Luke
    Dec 10, 2016 at 6:51
  • "I've only just seen your email" sounds great (and more British and elegant than my clumsy Americanism). I think you should add it to your answer, along with your caveat. Not all English language learners find their way to ELL, and since your rep is 101 I will be so bold as to suggest that you not limit yourself so narrowly to the choices given when neither one works very well, for one reason or another.
    – aparente001
    Dec 10, 2016 at 7:02
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    Thanks aparente001! I appreciate your advice. Yep, I'm new here and have had most of my experience on Stack Overflow where the question and answer requirements are a lot more strict in that users generally aren't looking for alternative solutions to the specific question they've asked. Thanks again! :)
    – Luke
    Dec 10, 2016 at 7:23
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    We try to send people away using English better than they did before they came. Similarly with editing other people's posts.
    – aparente001
    Dec 10, 2016 at 7:27
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Here's what I say in this situation:

I didn't see your email until now.

As a variant, you could also say:

I didn't see your email earlier.

You could add "I was out" but I personally don't think it's necessary. You could have been cooking, doing a jigsaw puzzle, having a conversation -- there is no law that says you have to be constantly monitoring your email.

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