currently - presently

           

The problem here is one of simple confused usage – using presently when currently is more appropriate, accurate, and correct. It’s a frequent issue that nearly all translators seem to make and so I wondered if there was some sort of answer in the Polish meaning of the word. But as far as my feeble collection of anglo-polish słwoniki are concerned, they’re both very different in Polish. If you have any ideas about this, do comment! So:

           

Bad presently  

1a      Students can presently choose from among 177 fields of study. 

2a      The second group is presently in the dining hall.           

3a      There are presently no further options available to non-subscribers.      

4a      The present situation is looking good, although there's some way to go yet.      

There are two ways we can fix this. One is to simply use ‘currently’ instead. The other is to rephrase presently into at present:          

Good currently

1b      Students can currently choose from among 177 fields of study. 

2b      At present, the second group is in the dining hall.         

3b      Currently, there are no further options available to non-subscribers.      

4b      The current situation is looking good, although there’s some way to go yet.       

You can employ these fixes in a variety of ways, as you can see above. Remember though, that at present is an opening gambit, whereas currently can be moved around as you see fit.

One last thing to note, very important. Look at 4a above. Immediately preceding a noun with present is OKAY in legal documents, contracts and so on because it does have some legal meaning. To paraphrase the OED, ‘the present document’ means ‘this document’. But in all other situations, use one of the fixes above.