Have you already found a place to live

Status
Not open for further replies.

Boris Tatarenko

Senior Member
Joined
May 6, 2013
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Russian Federation
Let's pretend you know that a friend of yours is looking for a place to live. Perhaps she has been successful. You're asking her

1) Have you found a place to live yet?
2) Have you already found a place to live?

According to my grammar book we use "yet" only in questions and negative sentences; therefore the first sentence is correct. Is the second one grammatically correct? I'm under the impression that one might well hear it in spoken English.
 

tedmc

VIP Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
Malaysia
Current Location
Malaysia
Both are common in spoken English. (2) suggests the person asking has heard something about the person having found a place.
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
The obviously correct answer if this were an exam is 1. ted is right in that 2 is more likely if you have some reason to believe that your friend has found a place.
They are both common and grammatical, but they must reflect the situation. Maybe this is more pronounced in AusE, but if we want to know whether something has happened yet, we don't ask if it's already happened unless we have a reason.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top