English Grammar & Vocabulary - 'Now' and 'Still'

Hey, guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "now" and "still."

These are very common time expressions that we use in English all the time, so it's important

to know what they mean, first of all, and how we can use them in a sentence.

So first, we have, "He's not here now," and, "Now Tanya lives in Ottawa." So obviously,

the word "now," most of you probably know, means at this very moment, this exact moment.

So, "He's not here now." Before, he was here, but now he is not here, okay? Now Tanya lives

in Ottawa. Before, maybe she lived in Toronto or Montreal, or maybe she was an international

student from Germany, okay? But now, Tanya lives in Ottawa. So we can use it to talk

about the actions of a person in the moment, or the actions of a thing, I suppose.

Now, what we can do with "now" is place it at the beginning of a sentence, like I did

here, "Now Tanya lives in Ottawa." We can also put it at the end of a sentence, like

I did here, "He's not here now." And it's also possible, if we don't have the verb "to

be," to place "now" before a verb. So, for example, "Tanya now lives in Ottawa." So we

can say, "Now Tanya lives in Ottawa." "Tanya now lives in Ottawa." "Tanya lives in Ottawa

now." Okay? So you have three possibilities. Same as here, except in the middle, we can

say, "He's not here now," or, "Now he's not here."

Okay. I made a note for you guys to use "right now" for immediacy. If you want it to be stronger,

you want to make... I know "now" means like, "Now, now, now." You can't get any stronger.

But in usage, if you say it in spoken word, it does sound like it's more important or

more... even more immediate in the present. Okay? So, "He's not here right now." "Not right

now." "Right now Tanya lives in Ottawa." "Now Tanya lives in Ottawa." The meaning is basically

the same, but you can use "right now" to make it seem a little stronger, to add a little

bit more emphasis.

Here we have "still." Okay? Now, "still" we can use to talk about something that began

in the past and has continued until the present. The first sentence is, "I'm still hungry."

So here you have the adjective "hungry." Before an adjective, you can use "still." So imagine

that you are having lunch, right? And you have lasagna. Okay? So you're eating your

lasagna, like, "Mmm, it's very good. It's very good." You finish your lasagna. And then

after five minutes, "Hmm, you're hungry. You are still hungry." So you were hungry before

lunch and you are hungry now. So we can use "still" to talk about something that started

in the past but has continued until the present. For example, "Paul still wakes up late every

day." I have known Paul for ten years. Okay? Let's imagine Paul is my best friend in the

world. Now, he woke up late every single day when we were in high school together. Today,

for work, he still wakes up late every day. Okay? So you can also use it before a verb.

And she still lives with her parents. So imagine that she is... I don't know. Let's make up

a name. Her name is Mary. Okay? And she is thirty-seven years old. Let's imagine she

is thirty-seven years old. And she still lives with her parents. Now, I know in some cultures

that's totally fine, totally cool. In North American culture, for me, it's a little weird.

For me, it's a little weird. Okay? No disrespect, but for me, it's strange for a thirty-seven

year old to be living with their parents unless there are special circumstances. Right? Okay.

So again, "still" means it started in the past, it has continued into the present, and

"now" means now, at the very moment, right? At this very moment. So if you want to test

your understanding of how to use "now", how to use "still", and the position of "now" and "still"

in a sentence, you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com. Take care, guys, and good luck.