How to Use ALREADY and YET? English Adverbs of Time - Basic English Grammar

hi everybody my name is Alisha today I'm

going to talk about two words yet and already and the difference between the

two I'm also going to explain some nuances of a few question patterns you

might hear these words used in so let's get started first let's look at the word

yet yet we use the word yet for actions that we expect to occur something we

think is probably going to happen we have an expectation for this action this

can mean like daily activities like taking a shower brushing your teeth it

can mean something at work like sending a file or attending a meeting so

depending on your situation this is just a specific action that is expected to

occur we use yet for actions that have not happened when we're making

statements for example I haven't done my homework yet

I haven't done my homework yet here we see yet at the end of this sentence we

also use yet in questions about the action so meaning is it finished

is it not finished has it been completed has it not been completed for example

have you done your homework yet yet you'll notice that we're using the

present perfect I haven't done my homework have you done your homework yet

we use yet because of this expectation meaning up until now up until this point

in time has the action been completed this is the reason we use haven't and

have in the in the case of these example sentences so remember yet is for an

action that has not happened but we expect will happen it falls at the end

of a sentence you'll notice here yet comes at the end of both of these

sentences if you see it in a different location like for example before the

verb it's increasingly rare in modern American English but you might see it in

older texts specifically it's going to sound formal and quite out of date if

you use this now so please use yet at the end of

your sentence okay let's move on to already already we use already again

like with yet for an action which we expect to occur some action that is

expected to occur this word however is used for an action that has happened so

when we're making statements this is for an action that has happened for example

I've already done my homework I've already done my homework here's the

positive sentence I use the negative I haven't done my homework yet here here

I've used I've already done my homework for questions about the action whether

the action has been completed or not we can also use already for example have

you already done your homework have you already done your homework here I used

yet have you done your homework yet so you'll see yet falls at the end of

the sentence but already comes before the verb so I've already done my

homework have you already done your homework already comes before the verb

you can use already at the end of a sentence although have you already done

your homework can be come have you done your homework already both are fine so

it's up to you to choose now knowing this basic information about when to use

yet and already let's look at a few sentences that use these words and some

which do not and take a look at the difference in nuance so these are

actually all questions these are all questions fairly common questions but

there are some subtle differences some small differences in nuance that I think

it's important to be aware of let's look at the first one here have you eaten

lunch yet this is a confirmation question is the

action finished or not have you eaten lunch yet here we see yet

at the end of the sentence the nuance here like I said it's a confirmation

question yes or no is the action finished or not finished in this case

the speaker thinks the listener has not completed the action or the speaker

imagines the listener there's a there's a chance the listener has not in this

case eaten lunch they imagine this it's a guess though

that's why it's a question it's in the question form have you eaten lunch yet

let's look at a similar sentence though have you already eaten lunch or have you

eaten lunch already here again it's a confirmation question but the speaker is

using already so the speaker guesses maybe the listener has completed the

action the action is maybe finished so there's a very small difference between

these two in this case maybe the speaker wants to invite the listener for lunch

or the speaker wants to ask something of the listener here however the speaker is

guessing that lunch is finished for the listener so maybe it's a it's a

different situation so there's a small difference in nuance between these two

let's look at a slightly different pair you've already eaten lunch versus you

haven't eaten lunch yet I've finished these sentences with the very casual

punctuation mark a question mark and an exclamation point this is just to

emphasize surprise so you shouldn't use to punctuation marks in your formal

writing but for this exercise I included it so here you've already eaten lunch

and you haven't eaten lunch yet these two are used to express surprise so here

this is not a confirmation question it begins with you've you've already

these are questions which express surprise or a disbelief so in this case

surprise because the action happened sooner than expected

so someone eats lunch at maybe 10:30 10:30 in the morning for example the

speaker says you've already eaten lunch the action happened sooner than expected

by the speaker in this case let's look here though the opposite you haven't

eaten lunch yet here the there's the same element of surprise that's being

communicated but there's an expectation the action is going to happen the

speaker is surprised actually that the listener has not completed the action

yet the surprise is because the action is not finished has not been completed

but there's an expectation the action is going to happen

the future so for example it's I don't know four o'clock in the afternoon and

the speaker says you haven't eaten lunch yet so you imagine as the speaker the

listener is going to eat lunch but you're surprised the listener has not

eaten okay and let's look at a couple of different grammar points here

you haven't eaten lunch you haven't eaten lunch here this is almost

identical to the previous sentence the only difference is the word yet is

missing there's no yet here just you haven't eaten lunch this is just a

simple expression of surprise so there's still a chance we see this this nuance

is communicated through the present perfect ants

you haven't eaten lunch so meaning up until this point in time you didn't or

you haven't eaten lunch you don't have the experience yet so it sounds like

there's still a chance here but yet is not included so maybe that emphasis of

expectation is missing in this sentence this is just a very simple kind of basic

way to confirm finally let's change this from present perfect here to simple past

you didn't eat lunch you didn't eat lunch here did not so

this is still expressing surprise we still see this you didn't do something

with the emphasis marks at the end this expresses surprise but there's no chance

no chance so remember didn't didn't simple past

tense meaning the action started and ended in the past this implies that the

speaker did not eat lunch and now there is no chance for the speaker to eat

lunch maybe it's 8 o'clock at night for

example there's no more a feasible period of time for lunch lunch is

finished so you didn't eat lunch simple past no chance for lunch to happen so

these are very similar questions and you might hear any one of these at work or

when meeting a friend but there are some very subtle differences in nuance here

so keep these in mind when you're using and when you're listening for yet and

already I hope this lesson was useful for you if you have any questions or

comments or if you want to try to make a sentence feel free feel free in the com

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thanks very much for watching this episode on yet and already and I'll see

you again soon bye bye