Speaker 1: I'm glad you're still studying English. I'm gonna guess that
you have already heard my last podcast about linking sounds.
What did you say, not yet? Huh? You're not gonna
do that anymore, are you?
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John In. Thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast Episode eight sixty six,
using already, still yet and anymore. Hello and welcome and
thanks for joining me for another episode of the Happy
English Podcast. Today, I want to talk about four small
but powerful words that can totally change the feeling of
your sentence. I'm talking about already, still yet and any more.
These are super common in casual conversation, but I've noticed
a lot of English learners mix them up or aren't
exactly sure when to use them. So today we're going
to clear all that up with natural examples and easy explanations.
Let's get the ball rolling with already. We use already
to talk about something that happened sooner than expected, or
just to say that something has happened before now already
usually goes in the middle of a sentence or at
the end, and we use already mostly with the present perfect,
like I've already eaten. That means I ate before now.
And maybe you didn't know or expect that, or don't
call Sarah, she's already gone home. She's gone, she left.
It happened earlier than we thought. Here's another one. Wow,
you already did your homework. That sentence has some surprise
in it, like wow, that was fast. And here's an
American English tip. In everyday conversational American English, we tend
to use already with the simple past, like are you hungry? No,
I already ate now. I know that a lot of
fans of British English may be surprised or even bothered
by that, but hey, don't shoot the messenger. I didn't
invent that style of speaking. I'm just telling you about it. Oh,
you already knew that? Nice So yeah, already has that
surprised or early feeling baked into it. Now, let's talk
about still still means something is continuing. It started in
the past and is happening now, Like this, are you
still working at the bookshop? This means you started working before,
and I'm asking if you continue working now or I
still don't understand this math problem. That means I didn't
understand it before, and even now you know nothing's changed,
it's still confusing. By the way, the difference between still
and since or four is when we use still, we
don't know when it started, Like Jack still lives in Brooklyn,
we don't know when he moved there. When we use still,
If you want to know when, then you can use
since or four, like Jack's been living in Brooklyn for
five years since twenty twenty. Okay, here's one last example
for you with still, I had a student tell me
the other day, I still get nervous when I speak English,
and that's totally normal. But hey, if you're listening to
this podcast, you're improving every day, promise. So remember still
is for something that hasn't stopped. Next up is yet?
Yet is one of those tricky ones. We use yet
to ask if something has happened, or to say that
it hasn't happened but we expect it. Usually we use
yet in questions and negative sentences, especially with the present
perfect like have you eaten yet? Simple question? I want
to know if it's already happened, or has Katie finished
her project yet? We're expecting the action to be done
and we're checking in negative sentences, I haven't seen that
movie yet not yet, but I probably will. Or Tom
hasn't called me yet, We're still waiting for that phone call.
You can almost feel that sense of expectation in these
sentences like not now, but maybe soon and again. In
American English, it's pretty common to hear yet used with
the simple past, like did you eat yet? Or I
didn't finish my homework yet. By the way, if you're
taking an exam like toek or Ai Alts, you may
come across yet in the middle of a sentence like
I haven't yet found a good pizza shop in my neighborhood.
This placement of yet is used in more formal situations,
like formal conversations or in writing, like I might ask
you if you have seen that yet, and you could
say I haven't yet learned that grammar. You see, I'm
not just about casual English, okay, finally we have anymore
now Now anymore is usually used in negative sentences, and
it means that's something used to be true, but it's
not true now, like I don't live in New York anymore.
That was true in the past, but not now. Or
Wendy doesn't eat meat anymore. She went vegan. Maybe she
used to eat meat all the time, but not anymore.
One of my friends told me recently, I don't use
Facebook anymore, and honestly, me too. I'm not so enthusiastic
about using social media anymore. So again, anymore is for
saying this thing used to happen, but it doesn't happen. Now.
Here's a quick recap of what we talked about today.
Let me give you a little story to tie it
all together. I used to live in New York, but
I don't live if they are anymore. I moved to
Japan this year. I'm still getting used to the food,
but I've already learned to love ramen. And I haven't
tried not do yet, but maybe soon not do. Fermented
soybeans boom. One story. Four keywords, all natural and real. Well,
thanks as always for hanging out with me today and
until next time, keep learning, keep practicing, and keep it cool,
and remember the best way to remember English like this
and any other word or phrase in English is to
take that word or phrase write it in a sentence
that's true for you or true in your world, and
then memorize your sentences. And remember to check out my
free AI tutor. It's a great way to practice your English,
get answers and more. Twenty four to seven. There's a
link in the description where you are listening to this
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want to get more practice using your English, you should
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And on top of that, each episode has exercises where
you can practice this English point with speaking and writing
checked by me. To learn more, and just visit Myhappy
English dot com and choose podcast lesson eight sixty six. Remember,
learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,
and I'm here to help you on your your journey.
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