| M. Jackson Wilkinson on Tue, 3 Jul 2001 21:10:05 -0400 |
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presently adv. 1. In a short time; soon: She will arrive presently. 2. Usage Problem. At this time or period; now: He is presently staying with us. 3. Archaic. At once; immediately. Usage Note: An original meaning of presently was "at the present time; currently." That sense is said to have disappeared from the literary language in the 17th century, but it has survived in popular usage and is widely found nowadays in literate speech and writing. Still, there is a lingering prejudice against this use. The sentence General Walters is... presently the United States Ambassador to the United Nations was acceptable to only 50 percent of the Usage Panel in the late 1980s. Apparently it's not only the British... On Tue, Jul 03, 2001 at 08:33:34PM -0400, gabriel rosenkoetter wrote: > On Tue, Jul 03, 2001 at 07:51:47PM -0400, M. Jackson Wilkinson wrote: > > at present (presently means in the future). > > Only if you're British. > > But no reason to be confusing, I suppose. > > -- > ~ g r @ eclipsed.net > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > Philadelphia Linux Users Group - http://www.phillylinux.org > Announcements-http://lists.phillylinux.org/mail/listinfo/plug-announce > General Discussion - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mail/listinfo/plug -- M. Jackson Wilkinson <jackw@jounce.net> Jounce Multimedia Services Voicemail: 877-832-9021 Cell: 215-919-1513 Attachment:
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