Because, I’m not going to lie.
There are four adverbs that are difficult for a lot of people, and they are yet and already, (which we’ve already seen) and still and anymore, (which are the focus of today’s post).
And yes. There’s a lot of confusion.
A LOT!
But that all stops now.
Fasten your seatbelts.
Here we go!
STILL AND ANYMORE, THE HAPPY COUPLE
What do all of the following people have in common: Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, Victoria and David Beckham, Elton John and David Furnish, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Felipe and Letizia and not forgetting Kanye West and Kim Kardashian?
They are all couples.
And not any old couples. They are amongst the best-known, celebrity power couples in the world.
Everybody knows they are couples. And they’ve been couples for quite a while.
We’ve known them as couples for ages and of course, we hope these couples will survive.
It´s a tough call, being a celebrity couple.
Still and anymore are also a couple. They compliment each other and answer each other´s questions.
And, just as we know the couples from the previous paragraph because they’ve been around for a while, we use still and anymore to describe actions we know about and which have been ongoing for some time. Or, alternatively, (in the case of anymore), actions which have not been happening because they stopped. Think Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
S T I L L
HOW WE USE STILL
We use the adverb still to indicate that an action which started in the past is ongoing.
Yes, indeedy!
We know it started and we are confirming that it is continuing to happen.
Still can also imply that something is happening for longer than was originally expected.
And usually, this is not a good thing.
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 want to ask a question about an ongoing action, we use still and we place it just before the main action in the sentence.
“Do you still live with your parents?”
“Does he still work for Zara?”
“Are you still going out with Kevin?”
“Can you still speak French?”
Notice that still is placed before action verbs but after the verb to be and modal verbs like can.
We also use still in affirmative sentences as a way to make clear that an action is continuing to happen.
“I still live with my parents.”
“He still works for Zara.”
“I’m still going out with Kevin.”
“I can still speak French”.
WHEN WE USE STILL
A good question!
I´ll give you the honest answer and my own personal take on when to use it.
Honestly, we use still in most verb tenses.
“I still drive my first car.” (Present Simple)
“I will still be your friend.” (Future Simple)
“Even if you didn´t like it, I would still wear my favourite shirt.” (Conditional)
However…
In my humble opinion, and at least when you are starting off with English, you are going to use the Present Simple and the Present Continuous with still on quite a lot of occasions.
Why?
Quite simply because we are explaining that something which started in the past is continuing to happen NOW or FREQUENTLY.
“I moved to New York two years ago and I still live in New York.”
“She started going out with Todd 18 months ago and she is still going out with him.”
And now for the grammar rats. Yes, you big grammar nerds!! Get your teeth into this:
Still can be used with the present perfect when we want to show that something we expected to happen sooner “still hasn’t happened.”
I still haven’t seen the new Star Wars movie.
I know you are probably thinking that you should say:
I haven’t seen the new Star Wars movie YET.
And you are right to think that. However, we can use still when an expected action doesn´t happen when we expected. When we are yet we are describing something which hasn´t happened and wasn’t expected to happen.
A N Y M O R E
HOW WE USE ANYMORE
Anymore is the negative partner in crime of still.
Don’t forget! They are a double act or “couple”.
When we use anymore in a sentence, we are making it clear that an action which used to happen in the past has stopped. Anymore also expresses a nuance of from now on.
“I won’t be trading here anymore” is a much more concise version of “I’ve always traded here, but I won’t be trading here from now on.”
WHERE IT FITS INTO A SENTENCE
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE QUESTION BEFORE MAIN AT THE END
SENTENCE SENTENCE SENTENCE ACTION VERB OF A SENTENCE
√ √
This is easy-peasy. That is VERY easy.
There two things to know about anymore. It is only used in negative sentences, and then, only at the end of the negative sentence.
As simple as that!
“I don’t eat red meat anymore.”
“She doesn´t work here anymore.”
“We don’t talk anymore.”
“I’m not going out with him anymore. We broke up.”
WHEN WE USE ANYMORE
This adverb can be used in most tenses.
“I don’t play basketball anymore.”
“After her marriage, she didn’t live in Dublin anymore.
“As you know, next year, I will be leaving and I won’t be here anymore”.
In practise, and this is just my own perception, it is used very frequently in the Present Simple or Present Continuous as a way of marking the difference between what is happening right now and what used to happen in the past.
“I used to sing in the choir, but I don’t have time for that anymore.”
“Johnny and I were together for year, but I’m sad to say, we are not going out anymore.”
BONUS TRACK
Although CDs are not very popular anymore, back in the day, some of them used to have a bonus track or two, especially if it was the more exorbitantly priced Deluxe Limited Edition. This was usually something extra you didn’t get on the normal edition of an album, for example, a new song or a cool remix of one of the most popular singles. So with that in mind, in the spirit of educating you even further, I’ve decided to add an extra special section to this blog entry.
I’m going to teach you something extra.
Something that is related to anymore.
A synonym, even.
And that is no longer.
N O L O N G E R
WHAT THE HELL IS NO LONGER?
You have probably seen no longer in several different places, so you have an idea of what it is.
Right now, there is a great Spanish language movie whose English title is I’m no longer here on Netflix. If you are a music connoisseur, you may know and even like the song No longer slaves which seems to have been recorded by lots of different artists.
No longer is an expression or idiom which means ‘in the past but not now’.
It´s a synonym for anymore.
WHERE IT FITS INTO A SENTENCE
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE QUESTION BEFORE MAIN AT THE END
SENTENCE SENTENCE SENTENCE ACTION VERB OF A SENTENCE
√ √
Now that we’ve learned what no longer is, one question remains. Where do we place it in a sentence? Like still, it is placed before action verbs but after the verb to be and modal verbs like can.
And don´t forget! We only use it in negative sentences.
Oh! And no longer is what negates the sentences, so we don’t need to use don’t or not because no longer fulfils that role
“I no longer eat red meat.”
“She no longer works here.”
“We no longer talk.”
“I’m no longer going out with him. We broke up.”
WHEN WE USE NO LONGER
This expression or idiom can be used in most tenses, but in my own experience, I use it most often in the Present Simple or Present Continuous tenses.
So to summarise...
STILL / ANYMORE/ NO LONGER
(from the perspective of now)
- The action was being completed the last time you checked but you want to know if the action is continuing to be done.
- We normally use the present tense or the present continuous
- Still is used in questions (?) and affirmative (+) sentences. before the main action verb (and after the verb to be.
- Anymore is used at the end of negative (-) sentences.
- No longer is used in negative (-) sentences, before the main action verb (and after the verb to be)
Now get out there and practise!
And I hope you’ll master it really quickly and be back here for more soon.
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