No need to panic.
Well, not really.
It's just that... there are four adverbs that everybody needs to know.
No! Know is not strong enough.
It might be better to say need to master!
Anyway, whatever verb you use, you need to be able to use yet, already, still, and anymore.
If, right now, you don’t know much about them or they are not totally clear, don´t worry.
Today we are going to focus on the first two of these: yet and already, which conveniently, are often used with actions about which we are not totally clear.
Have they or haven’t they been completed?
How can we inform ourselves?
With yet which our next section is going to describe, in detail.
Y E T
HOW WE USE YET
We use the adverb yet when we want to find out if a specific action has actually happened.
We can also use it to state that up until now, a specific action has not happened. In very simplistic terms, and as a great starting point only, we could say that yet is used to confirm if an action has or has not happened.
WHERE IT FITS INTO A SENTENCE
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE QUESTION BEFORE MAIN AT THE END
SENTENCE SENTENCE SENTENCE ACTION VERB OF A SENTENCE
√ √ √
Let’s start with questions. When we don’t know whether a specific action has happened or not and we want to check this, we ask a question and yet at the end of it.
That is, just before the question mark. How about we take a look at some examples:
“Have you finished the report yet?”
“Has your sister seen the new Brad Pitt movie yet?”
“Have they called yet?”
“Have you had lunch yet?”
You might have noticed that yet is used in predominately closed questions. By ‘closed questions’ I mean, questions which result in a yes or no answer. It is not common to use yet in questions with interrogative adverbs like when, where or who?
Yet is also used in negative sentences. We use yet to confirm that an action has not happened as of the time of speaking or writing. It is confirmation, that the action is pending and needs to be done.
“I haven’t finished the report yet.”
“My sister hasn’t seen the new Brad Pitt movie yet.”
“No. They haven’t called yet.”
“I haven’t had lunch yet.”
WHEN WE USE YET
A good question!
It can used in the Present Simple, Past Simple and Past Perfect tenses, but if I’m really honest, the tense that is used most often with yet is the Present Perfect. That is the present tense of the verb to have and the participle form of the action verb. If you want to ask a yet question, you´ll nearly always use the Present Perfect.
As you’ve seen, we don’t always use the Present Perfect…
“Are you ready yet?” (Present Simple)
“Can you see it yet?” (Future Simple)
…However, as I mentioned above, the Present Perfect tense is most commonly used with yet.
“Have you seen the latest season of The Crown yet?
“Have they finished making dinner yet?”
“Have we arrived yet?
B.O.N.U.S. T.R.A.C.K. I
Now something for the grammar geeks.
Let me introduce you to coordinating conjunctions.
TO WHAT?
In very simplistic terms, a coordinating conjunction is a small word that links two pieces of text which happen to be of equal importance. They could be verbs. They could be nouns or they could be whole clauses. There are seven coordinating conjunctions in total, of which we are most interested in yet. Let´s look at an example:
“I have to make all the food for the party, yet I don’t have much time to cook anything
We could substitute but for yet in this kind of sentence and guess what - it wouldn’t be terrible. However, there is a very slight difference.
But is very ‘final’ in a sentence, whereas, yet leaves things open to change.
Impress your native friends by using yet as a coordinating conjunction. Just promise me one thing. You will never, ever mention coordinating conjunctions.
If you do nobody will have the slightest idea what you are talking about.
Believe me!
BONUS TRACK II
We use the have yet + infinitive structure to indicate that something hasn’t happened yet, especially when you think it should have happened by now.
“I have yet to have lunch.”
“She has yet to find the perfect dress”
It might be time to move on to already.
DID SOMEBODY SAY A.L.R.E.A.D.Y????
HOW WE USE ALREADY
When we use already, we are saying that something has happened before now. In addition to the idea of something happening before now, there is an added dimension that this action has happened well before it was expected to. In other words, already contains a slight element of surprise.
WHERE IT FITS INTO A SENTENCE
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE QUESTION BEFORE MAIN AT THE END
SENTENCE SENTENCE SENTENCE ACTION VERB OF A SENTENCE
√ √
As I already mentioned, we use already in affirmative sentences like this one. That´s right. We never use it in negative sentences. EVER.
We don’t usually use it in questions, although colloquially, there are people who do. I’m not saying they are right. But I am admitting that people make this mistake.
Already is placed before the main action verb but in a sentence. When the main verb in a sentence is to be, then we place already after the verb. Finally, if the main action verb follows a modal verb, already is placed between the modal verb and the corresponding action. Check out the following examples:
“I already know the answer.”
“Can´t you see? I am already really angry!
“I can already see the castle!
“I may already know the gender of my baby!
WHEN WE USE ALREADY
This adverb can be used in.the Present Simple, Present Continuous and Past Simple tenses as the following sentences demonstrate:
“I already knew that my dog was dead.”
“I am already living in my new home. I’m so happy!
“She already has her wedding dress, so she is almost ready for the big day!
However,we normally use already in the Past Perfect and particularly in the Present Perfect.
“We had already arrived when we learned the party had been called off.”
“I’ve already uncorked the wine. What do you prefer? Red or white?
“They have already sold their house and they are looking for a new one!
ALREADY AT THE END OF A SENTENCE
While not so common, some native speakers move already from its normal mid-sentence position, to the end of a sentence.
Why?
Well, quite simply for effect.
Yes, that’s right, to give more emphasis to what they are saying.
Consider the following situation.
Some kids continually leave their toys scattered everywhere around their home. Their parents ask them to pick up their toys. They don't. Their parents are very busy people and eventually, they start to lose their patience. What happens next?
Parents think that children will pay more attention if they say: “Kids! We’ve told you this ALREADY!” than if they say “Kids, we’ve already told you this!”
What do YOU think?
Okay. We’ve almost come to the end.
Or we could even say we’ve already come to the end… but, have I finished yet?
You don’t know for sure. That’s why you need to use yet in the question.
And the answer is NO. We haven’t finished just yet.
Let’s summarise everything really quickly:
YET / ALREADY
- We don’t know if this action has been started or completed and we want to find out if it has.
- We normally use the present perfect tense.
- Yet is used at the end of questions (?) and negative (-) sentences.
- Already is used in affirmative (+) sentences and is placed before the main action verb.
Have you taken your medicine yet?
No, I haven’t taken it yet.
Yes, I’ve already taken it.
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