Has Maria already gone to Sally's house ?

[ph2004]

Is this correct : "Has Maria already gone to Sally's house ?"
If so, is this an exception to the rule that one has to use "yet" in questions, so : "Has Maria gone to Sally's house yet ?" Or are both sentences possible ?

And, if only the first sentence is correct : why is this an exception to the rule ?

 

[ph2004]

I thought that the rule is to use "yet" in questions and negative sentences and to use "already" in positive sentences.

Or not so ?

 

[BobK]

Yes and no ;-). If you're going to use an adverb of time, those are the conditions in which they should be used. But you don't have to.

b

 

[ph2004]

Yes and no ;-). If you're going to use an adverb of time, those are the conditions in which they should be used. But you don't have to.

b

So both "Has Maria already gone to Sally's house today ?" and "Has Maria gone to Sally's house today yet ?" are correct ? :shock:

 

[Barb_D]

So both "Has Maria already gone to Sally's house today ?" and "Has Maria gone to Sally's house today yet ?" are correct ? :shock:

I would use either of those, interchangeably.

 

[bhaisahab]

So both "Has Maria already gone to Sally's house today ?" and "Has Maria gone to Sally's house today yet ?" are correct ? :shock:

I wouldn't use "today" with "yet". I would use: "Has Maria gone to Sally's house today?" or "Has Maria gone to Sally's house yet?" And I wouldn't use "today" with "already" unless I wrote: "Has Maria already been to Sally's house today?"

 

[Raymott]

Is this correct : "Has Maria already gone to Sally's house ?"
If so, is this an exception to the rule that one has to use "yet" in questions, so : "Has Maria gone to Sally's house yet ?" Or are both sentences possible ?

And, if only the first sentence is correct : why is this an exception to the rule ?

They're both right but used in different contexts.
"Has Maria gone to Sally's house yet ?"
You ask this if you are expecting Maria to go to Sally's house, but you aren't sure whether she's there yet.
So, if you phoned Sally, you'd say, "Is Maria there, yet?"

"Has Maria already gone to Sally's house ?"
You ask this if you are expecting Maria to go to Sally's house, but you have some reason, maybe a suspicion, to believe she is there before the time you expected her to be.
So, if you phone Sally, you'd say, "Is Maria already there?"

 

[Barb_D]

Oops. I didn't notice the "today" -- only the "yet" or "already." I change my earlier comment to "Remove the 'today' and I would say either of them. "

 

[Tdol]

I would use both as questions, but not interchangeably. It could be a difference in variants- like Raymott, , I'd ask with 'already' if I thought she'd left unexpectedly early or something.