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Latest post Sat, Dec 22 2007 12:29 AM by Angliholic. 4 replies.
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Angliholic  +  455610 Fri, 21 Dec 07 01:39 PM

The company hopes to open 12 hotels by 2010. To date, they've opened seven.

Could I replace "To date" in the above with "Until now/Up to now/Up to the present/So far" without making a change in meaning? Thanks.

Joined on Wed, Feb 14 2007
SomewhereinFormosa
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Without true love, life is meaningless and worthless since our physical world is nothing but a dream. ~~Angliholic~~簡瑞達
Grammar Geek  +  455615 Fri, 21 Dec 07 01:57 PM

Yes, you can, but I personally find the "Up to..." ones a little more awkward and the "Until now" not very natural sounding.

"So far" is the best substitute.

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Angliholic  +  455616 Fri, 21 Dec 07 02:04 PM
 Grammar Geek wrote:

Yes, you can, but I personally find the "Up to..." ones a little more awkward and the "Until now" not very natural sounding.

"So far" is the best substitute.

Thanks, GG.

But I still have some quam about "natural sounding." Shouldn't it be more grammatically correct to say "naturally sounding" because "sounding" in the context functions as an adjective?

CalifJim  +  455712 Fri, 21 Dec 07 06:56 PM
Let me butt in here.

sound is a linking verb.  For this reason we say It sounds natural, not It sounds naturally.

Consequently, things are natural sounding, not naturally sounding.

sounding is a (present) participle.  As such, it has some qualities of a verb; it is not purely adjectival in character.  That's why the adjective natural can combine with it.  The adjective natural 'modifies' the verbal aspects of the  participle sounding as an adjective complement, even though the participle itself is adjectival with respect to the rest of the sentence.  This analysis, while somewhat complicated, shows why this is not a case of an adjective modifying another adjective, even though it appears that way.

For the same reason, we say that people are good looking, not well looking.

CJ



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Angliholic, 1 yr 335 days ago

Thanks, Jim.

Spot on! You really convince me!

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