Learn how to use JUST, YET, STILL + ALREADY

Any English teacher will tell you that there are some common mistakes in English that tend to be repeated over and over again. Today’s blog post examines the difference between JUST, YET, STILL, and ALREADY. I hope that after reading this post you won’t make any more mistakes with these tricky adverbs!

Just

‘Just’ means ‘a short time ago’. It is usually used with the present perfect.

I’ve just seen Peter at the grocery store.

Have you just eaten my last cookie?

Marge was here! You just missed her!

In the present perfect, ‘just’ comes between the auxiliary verb (‘have’) and the past participle.

Yet

‘Yet’ is used to talk about something which is expected to happen. It means ‘at any time up to now’. It is used in questions and negatives. In the following exchange, the first speaker expects that the essay will be finished.

A Have you finished your essay yet?

B I haven’t finished it yet. I’ll do it tonight.

‘Yet’ usually comes at the end of the sentence.

Still

‘Still’ is used to talk about something that hasn’t finished – often when it was expected to finish earlier

I don’t want to leave my hometown. All my family still live here.

I’ve been waiting for three weeks and my test results still haven’t arrived

Why are you still here? I told you to leave twenty minutes ago!

‘Still’ usually comes in ‘mid-position’

Still is often used with other tenses as well as the present perfect.

Have you still got that red dress you bought in H&M? Can I borrow it?

Are you still studying arts?

Already

Already’ is used to say that something has happened early – or earlier than it was expected to happen

I’ve been here for an hour and already I’m bored!

The movie has already started! I told you we should have left sooner!

‘Already’ usually comes in mid-position.

I hope those examples make the grammar very clear and that you now know the difference between JUST, YET, STILL and ALREADY! To see the grammar in use, I have included some short responses to IELTS / Cambridge exam questions below!

Examples of Just / Yet / Still / Already

Do you think you will continue to live in your hometown?

I think so, I haven’t gotten sick of it yet! As well as that, all of my family still live here … I would miss them if I left.

How will technology affect education in the future?

Well, I’m not an expert on this but I can see that it is having an impact already. My little niece just told me yesterday that they learn how to use computers in her kindergarten school… She can do things with an iPad that I can’t even do yet!

Do you have any plans to learn a new language?

To be honest, not yet! I have enough on my plate trying to improve my English. I still get very nervous when I speak in front of native speakers.

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