Still, yet and already ,,,,,,, Any more / any longer / no longer

Lesson

Still  

We use still to say that a situation or action is continuing. It hasn't changed or stopped:

• It's 10 o'clock and Abdullah is still in bed.
• When I went to bed, Mohammed was still working.
• Do u still want to go to the party or have you changed your mind?

Still usually goes in the middle of the sentence with the verb.

       Any more / any longer / no longer  

We use not…any more or not…. Any longer to say that a situation has changed. Any more and any longer go at the end of a sentence:

·         Sara doesn't work here any more ( or any longer ). She left last month.

( not ' Sara doesn't still work here' )

·         We used to be good friends but we aren't any more ( or any longer ).

You can also use no longer. No longer goes in the middle of the sentence:

·         Sara no longer works here.

Note that we do not normally use no more in this way:

·         We are no longer friends. ( not' we are no more friends' )

Compare still and not… any more:

·         Fatima still works here but Sara doesn't work here any more.

Yet 

Yet =' until now'. We use yet mainly in negative sentences ( I haven't finished yet) and questions (Have you finished yet?). yet shows that the speaker is expecting to happen.

Yet usually goes at the end of sentence:

·         It's 10 o'clock and Abdullah hasn't got up yet.

·         I'm hungry. Is dinner ready yet?

·         We don't know where we are going for our holidays yet.

We often use yet with present perfect ( Have you finished yet?).

Compare yet and still:

·         Abdullah lost his job a year ago and is still unemployed.

Abdullah lost his job a year ago and hasn't found another job yet.

·         Is it still raining?

Has it stopped raining yet?

Still is also possible in negative sentences(before the negative):

·         She said she would be here an hour ago and she still hasn't come.

This is similar to 'she hasn't come yet'. But still.. not shows a stronger feeling of surprise or impatience. Compare:

·         I wrote to him last week. He hasn't replied yet. (but I expect he will reply soon).

·         I wrote to him months ago and he still hasn't replied. (he should have replied before now)

     Already  

We use already to say that something happened sooner than expected. Already usually goes in the middle of a sentence:

·         ' When is Sara going on holiday?'    ' She has already gone.' (= sooner than you expected)

·         Shell I tell Fatima the news or does she already know?

·         I've only just had lunch and I'm already hungry.

  English Grammar in use By: Raymond Murpphy

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