Common Mistakes in Business English

Active writing guide for non-native speakers

Until Now
The phrase “until now” is often used incorrectly. This can result in a sentence having the
opposite meaning to the one intended.

Consider the following sentence:

Until now, the above documents and information have not been provided by the Banks.
What does the writer mean? Have the Banks provided the documents and information or
not?
A native English speaker would be likely to say yes. But the writer intended to say that they
have not.

In English the phrase “until now” is used to refer to a change of circumstances where
the change happens now.
E.g. Until now I have never eaten sushi.
This means that it is the first time the speaker has eaten sushi. Until the present moment the
speaker never ate sushi. NOW the speaker is eating sushi.
So, if we apply this understanding of “until now” to the first example, it means that until the
present moment the Banks have not provided the documents and information. NOW (or in
the very recent past) they have provided them.
That is how a native English speaker would understand the sentence.

Instead of “until now”, in this sentence the writer should have used the phrases “to date”, “as
yet” or “so far”. They all have the same meaning. “To date” is formal; “so far” informal.
RIGHT
To date, the above documents and information have not been provided by the Banks.
Other examples:
WRONG
Please be advised that the request for payment sent to Mr Smith on 17 September 2010 has
not been picked up from the Post Office until now.
RIGHT
Please be advised that the request for payment sent to Mr Smith on 17 September 2010 has
not been picked up from the Post Office.
Adding “until now” here gives the impression that NOW (or in the very recent past) Mr
Smith has picked up the request for payment, which is not the case. In order to correct the
sentence we simply delete “until now”. The use of the present perfect tense (has not been
picked up) is enough to convey that we are referring to time that continues from the past to
the present. If we want to stress this point we can add the word “still”:
Please be advised that the request for payment sent to Mr Smith on 17 September
2010 still has not been picked up from the Post Office.
WRONG
We declare that the demanded amount has not been transferred to the bank account until
today, which is the final date for repayment.
RIGHT
We declare that the demanded amount has not been transferred to the bank account to
date, which is the final date for repayment.
Here, the incorrect sentence gives the impression that TODAY the demanded amount has
been transferred. The correct version makes it clear that the demanded amount it still
outstanding. “As yet” and “so far” would not work in this sentence as it refers to a specific
date.