Have you finished your homework (yet)?

[Winwin2011]

Have you finished your homework yet?

Is there a difference if we leave out the 'yet' in the above sentence?

 

[bhaisahab]

Yes.

 

[Winwin2011]

Yes.

Thanks, Bhai.

Could you tell me the difference, please?

 

[Tarheel]

With "Have you finished your homework yet?" the implication is that if you haven't finished it you should have and you had better be about doing it. (What a difference one little word can make, eh?)

 

[Winwin2011]

With "Have you finished your homework yet?" the implication is that if you haven't finished it you should have and you had better be about doing it. (What a difference one little word can make, eh?)

If a parent asks her child , "Have you finished your homework?", what is the implication?

 

[MikeNewYork]

In that sentence, it is a simple question.

 

[Matthew Wai]

'Have you finished your homework yet?' = 'Have you finished your homework which should have been finished by now?'
Is it correct?
Not a teacher.

 

[MikeNewYork]

It is very wordy, Matthew.

 

[Winwin2011]

Have you received my email yet?

Is there a difference if we leave out the 'yet' in the above sentence?

 

[Matthew Wai]

Have you received my email yet?

I think the speaker expects that the listener should have received it.
Not a teacher.

 

[Tdol]

Yet in these questions makes things less neutral- it implies that something is wrong. Both questions are correct, but in most cases we make a change for a reason, and this is one of those cases. Sometimes an extra word doesn't change the meaning, but yet usually adds at least a shade of meaning, so there is generally a difference even though both forms work.