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According to one dictionary, "to this day" means:

up to now : continuing until today

But according to some other dictionary, "to this day" means:

even now, after a very long time

The first definition suggests a period of time, but the second suggests a point in time. Is one of them wrong?

Example Usage:
link

They started appearing even before his death on 17 August 1786, and they still crop up to this day.

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1 Answers1

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They mean essentially the same thing - note that 'now' is part of both definitions. The Learners Dictionary emphasizes the phrase's literal meaning, until the present, while the Macmillan definition emphasizes its ordinary use to speak of something instituted a long time ago.

Another way of paraphrasing this would be

continuing from long ago all the way up to the present

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  • So, if a verb in present tense is used with "to this day", the point-in-time sense is used. But if a verb in present perfect tense is used with "to this day", the period-of-time sense in used? – meatie Sep 06 '14 at 07:25
  • @meatie No, the expression is *to this day*; it always designates a period during which something continues, from then until now. A 'point' is something you are reading into the second definition; in the context of an actual use of the expression 'now' is merely the latest time so far included in the period. – StoneyB on hiatus Sep 06 '14 at 11:02
  • If "to this day" always means "from then until now" (period of time), then the verb should always be in present perfect, which denotes an action that started in the past and is still ongoing at the present moment. The present tense, as used in the example, seems to be wrong. – meatie Sep 06 '14 at 19:19
  • @meatie a) What example? b) Present perfect is not obligatory in those circumstances, merely an option; indeed, with to this day it may be felt in some cases to be redundant. – StoneyB on hiatus Sep 06 '14 at 19:36
  • I've just added the example sentence and the link. It talks about imposter appearing in the past and present. Would "they still *have cropped up* to this day" be more appropriate than "they still *crop up* to this day"? – meatie Sep 06 '14 at 19:48
  • @meatie No; the point is that the stories are *still* cropping up. The expression to this day implies that they never stopped appearing throughout the period in question. – StoneyB on hiatus Sep 06 '14 at 19:57
  • It depends. By using the past tense you place the emphasis on the past events, with an expectation that it could still be happening even now. By using the present tense you emphasise that it is still happening, even now. – Ethan Furman Sep 06 '14 at 19:57
  • But the use of the present tense in "they will crop up...." seems to ignore the past. – meatie Sep 06 '14 at 19:59
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    The past is implicit in the phrase. If it hadn't been happeing in the past you wouldn't say to this day, you would say, today. – Ethan Furman Sep 06 '14 at 20:04
  • @meatie You have a starting point and an endpoint, and the expression *to this day* designates everything in between, so you don't need to put the past explicitly in your verbform. – StoneyB on hiatus Sep 06 '14 at 20:05