Welcome to your “Still” / “Yet” / “Already” lesson! In this topic we talk about:
• “Still”
• “Any more” / “Any longer” / “No longer”
• “Yet”
• Repeating auxiliaries
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“Still”
We use “still” to say that an action or a situation is continuing. It hasn’t stopped or changed:
“It’s 9pm and I’m still at work.”
“When I went to bed, my wife was still watching T.V.”
“Do you still want a roast dinner tonight, or have you changed your mind?”
“Any more” / “Any longer” / “No longer”
We use “not … any more” and “not … any longer” to say that a situation has changed. “Any more” and “any longer” go at the end of the sentence:
“She doesn’t live here any more.”
“They don’t eat meat any longer.”
You can also use “No longer”. You place this expression in the middle of the sentence:
“I no longer eat meat.”
Compare “still” and “not … any more“:
“Mark still lives here.”
“James doesn’t live here any more.”
“Yet”
“Yet” means “until now”. We use “yet” mainly in negative sentences and questions. “Yet” shows that the speaker is expecting something to happen. “Yet” goes at the end of the sentence:
“It’s ten pm and the kids aren’t in bed yet.”
“The bus hasn’t come yet.”
“Have you seen the news yet?”
“Yet” is often used with the present perfect.
Compare “yet” and “still”:
“I lost my keys and haven’t found them yet.”
“I lost my keys and still haven’t found them.”
“Is it still raining?”
“Has the rain stopped yet?”
“Still” is often possible with negative sentences.
“She said she’d send me her number, but she still hasn’t sent it.”
This sentence is similar to “… but she hasn’t sent it yet.”, but “still” shows a stronger feeling of surprise or impatience:
“I ordered a coffee but it hasn’t arrived yet.” (I expect it will arrive soon)
“I ordered a coffee but it still hasn’t arrived.” (it should have come before now)
“Already”
We use “already” to say that something happened sooner than expected. “Already” usually goes in the middle of a sentence.
“What time are you leaving?” “I’ve already left!”
“Shall I make some tea or have you already had one?”
“I’ve only just had breakfast and I’m already hungry.”
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