With reference to free online dictionary, ‘to date’ means ‘until now’ or ‘up to now’.
If that the case, shouldn’t ‘to date’ be used with present perfect? Why does the simple present sound okay with it?
E.g. To date he is punctual/ it is successful/etc.
Lycen:
I’ve been trying to think of sentences to use “to date.” Here’s what I have:
To date, I have been posting on this site.
To date, the car has been running fine.
The letters have always arrived late to date…
Can I think of any that use the present tense…hmm…
To date, I am not at home. (No, that does not work.)
To date, I have a toothache. (That’s better. But I can also write that to date I have had a toothache.)
To date, I am happily married. (But I can also write that to date I have been happily married.)
Conclusion: Both past tense and present tense can be used. The use of the past tense seems more natural to me. I would tend to use the past tense.
I hope that helps.
I’ve been giving this more thought, and I think that would use only the past tense with “to date.” If I wanted to use the present tense, I would use “currently.” So I would write the following:
To date, I have been happily married.
Currently, I am happily married.
It makes sense to question the use of the present tense with “to date,” however use the past tense because it’s like saying “in the past and until this moment…”
Hope that helps.
Some native speakers told me that the simple present is acceptable despite the meaning of “to date”. For instance:
It remains at the top of the chart to date.
It is successful to date.
I agree: the use of the simple present with “to date” is not necessarily wrong.
Personally, I agree with you Dozy. I suppose ‘to date’ has another meaning beside ‘until now’.
No, I think it always means “until (and including) now”. I suppose when we use the simple present we’re focusing more on the state now, while still saying something about the state in the past.
Alright thanks a lot.