Money was the last thing I cared about right now

Open Forum in English
1

Money was the last thing I cared about right now.

I saw the sentence from the dictionary.
I don’t understand why the sentence is used the past tense and with right now at the same time.
Is it okay to use right now or now with the past tense?

Thank you!!!

2

Money is the last thing I care about right now (present)
Money was the last thing I cared about back then (past)
Money will be the last thing I care about in the future (future)

3

There are mistakes in the orginal sentence

4

@lilyyang - “Money was the last thing I cared about right now”:

‘Right now’ can sometimes mean ‘just then and also continuing in the present moment/situation’.

It’s important to note here though that “the last thing” in your original sentence has idiomatic meaning. More important things rather than money has been on the person’s mind and still is. They didn’t even think about money.

Another example: “The last thing I did was go shopping today!” does not mean it was the last thing that actually happened during my day. It actually means I NEVER went shopping at all. I either strongly disliked the thought of going, or there were greater priorities or situation preventing me at the time.

Further examples of idiomatic usage of “the last thing” (and also “the last person”):

“Money is the last thing I care about” = money has the least priority
“He’s the last person I want to see” = I don’t want to see him at all!
“You’re the last person I expected to see here” = I never expected to see you here! Or, I never thought you’d ever come to a place like this! etc.
”The last thing she needed was for me to start crying too” = If I cry, she’ll feel worse; she needs me to be strong for her.

Note in idiomatic speech that “the last” is stressed.

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5

I would probably say, “Money was the last thing I cared about right then,” but without further context, the sentence has little value and the meaning is somewhat vague.

I have a brother-in-law who was in a fraternity in college (back when there were no mobile phones but 25-cent payphones were everywhere and people from the USA could drive into and out of Canada without a passport) and his Senior frat brothers (or whatever they call themselves) kidnapped him one Friday night and drove him to Canada and dropped him off at the edge of a town somewhere and he had no money on him and the only thing he was given was a jar of mustard with a quarter in the bottom and a sandwich. When relating this story (at a later time, after he arrived back home), he might have said, “Money was the last thing I cared about right then. I just wanted to get home,” meaning that he had more important things to worry about at that point in time than how much money he had on him.

I think he resolved the situation by removing the quarter from the jar of mustard, walking into town and using a payphone to call one of his Freshman frat brothers who had to drive my brother-in-law’s car about 8 hours to Canada to get him and bring him back home.

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6

I think the sentence is wrong. I can’t think of a situation where right now or now can be used with the past tense.

7

No, it is not okay to use “right now” in this sentence: Money was the last thing I cared about right now.
Money was the last thing I cared about right now. (incorrect)
Money was the last thing I cared about right then. (correct)
Money was the last thing I cared about at that moment. (correct)
Money was the last thing I cared about then. (correct)

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