Is it correct to use "now" as an alternative to (present) or (current), such as; my now wife, my now job?
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1Welcome to ELU. When you did your research into now, did you find it used as an adjective?– Andrew Leach ♦Aug 15 at 11:11
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1@AndrewLeach Dictionaries site an adjective context, but some of them restrict their examples to a distinctly different definition, though also an adjective: "That style is so now." However I'm inclined to say that the way of using "now" presented in this question is just fine, if only because it falls into the same pattern as a very common adj context for "then", e.g., "I would have chosen a dog, but my then wife preferred cats."– R MacAug 15 at 11:44
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1You can say "my now wife" and "my then wife". But Google Ngrams gives nothing for "my now job".– Weather VaneAug 15 at 12:16
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When's the last time you heard it, or read it (not in a dictionary)? My wife now, my job now, the X now... probably outnumber it 10,000 to 1.– TimRAug 15 at 12:58
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1@EdwinAshworth indeed the Ngram shows usage to have been dropping since the late 19th C, although 'my then wife' has been on the rise (D-I-V-O-R-C-E?)– Weather VaneAug 15 at 13:16
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1 Answer
Yes, in some contexts now is used as an adjective just as you suggest, though it’s not all that common in practice. Look in a dictionary and you’ll find things like this.
