Grammar Points

Just, yet, still, already

These words are often used with the present perfect tense although yet, still and already can all be used with other tenses.

Just

‘Just’ is usually used only with the present perfect tense and it means ‘a short time ago’.

• I’ve just seen Susan coming out of the cinema.
• Mike’s just called. Can you ring him back please?
• Have you just taken my pen? Where has it gone?

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.

• Have you finished your homework yet? The speaker expects that the homework will be finished.
• I haven’t finished it yet. I’ll do it after dinner.

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

Still

‘Still’ is used to talk about something that hasn’t finished – especially when we expected it to finish earlier.

• I’ve been waiting for over an hour and the bus still hasn’t come.
• You promised to give me that report yesterday and you still haven’t finished it.

‘Still’ usually comes in ‘mid-position’

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

• I’ve still got all those letters you sent me.
• Are you still working in the bookshop?

Already

‘Already’ is used to say that something has happened early – or earlier than it might have happened.

• I’ve already spent my salary and it’s two weeks before pay day.
• The train’s already left! What are we going to do?

‘Already’ usually comes in mid-position.

Verb Tense Review and Exercises

Here is a helpful table with the tenses, a quick explanation and some helpful words/phrases associated with each of them.

	Past	Present	Future
Simple	An action that ended at a point in the past.	An action that exists , is usual, or is repeated.	A plan for future action.
	cooked	cook / cooks	will cook
(time clue)*	e.g. He cooked yesterday.	e.g. He cooks dinner every Friday.	e.g. He will cook tomorrow.
Progressive be + main verb +ing	An action was happening (past progressive) when another action happened (simple past).	An action that is happening now.	An action that will be happening over time, in the future, when something else happens.
	was / were cooking	am / is / are cooking	will be cooking
(time clue)*	e.g. He was cooking when the phone rang.	e.g. He is cooking now.	e.g. He will be cooking when you come.
Perfect have + main verb	An action that ended before another action or time in the past.	An action that happened at an unspecified time in the past.	An action that will end before another action or time in the future.
	had cooked	has / have cooked	will have cooked
(time clue)*	e.g. He had cooked the dinner when the phone rang.	e.g. He has cooked many meals.	e.g. He will have cooked dinner by the time you come.
Perfect Progressive have + be + main verb + ing	An action that happened over time, in the past, before another time or action in the past.	An action occurring over time that started in the past and continues into the present.	An action occurring over time, in the future, before another action or time in the future.
	had been cooking	has / have been cooking	will have been cooking
(time clue)*	e.g. He had been cooking for a long time before he took lessons.	e.g. He has been cooking for over an hour.	e.g. He will have been cooking all day by the time she gets home.

*Time clues: these are words that give some information about when an action occurs. Some examples are:

yesterday every day tomorrow while now

simple past simple present simple future past progressive present progressive

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There are many words that are time clues; some can be used to indicate a number of tenses, for instance that something happened in the past or that it will happen in the future. If you learn to recognize these time clues, you will find them very helpful. Note that some time clues can be used with more than one verb tense and also that this table is not a complete listing of all the time clues that can be used with all of the tenses

CHART—TIME CLUES AND VERB TENSE

	Past	Present	Future
Simple	Simple Past	Simple Present	Simple Future
	yesterday last year/ month/ etc. before for five weeks/days/etc. one year/ month ago	every morning / day / etc. always usually frequently sometimes	tomorrow tonight next week/month/etc. soon in the future
Progressive	Past Progressive	Present Progressive	Future progressive
	while when	now right now this week/minute/etc.	when after as soon as before
Perfect	Past Perfect	Present Perfect	Future Perfect
	before already by the time until then/last week/etc. after	until now since ever never many times/ weeks/years/etc. for three hours/ minutes/etc/	by the time you go (somewhere) by the time you do (something) already
Perfect Progressive	Past Perfect progressive	Present Perfect Progressive	Future Perfect Progressive
	before for one week/hour/etc. since	for the past year/ month/ etc. for the last 2 months/ weeks/etc. up to now for 6 weeks/hours/etc. since	by the time for ten days/weeks/etc. by