Hey everyone!
I just wanted you to clarify me this, please. What’s the difference between saying “you still haven’t seen I am Legend?” and “Haven’t you still seen I am Legend?”. I’m not sure if the second question is right but I think it would go better with yet. However, I’d like to know what’s the difference in meaning.
Thanks a lot!
Hi Serzige
You can use “still” with a meaning similar to “yet” to indicate surprise about the fact that something has not happened or finished.
The wording in your first sentence is OK, but not in the second.
Even though your first sentence does not have interrogative word order, it can be spoken as a sort of surprised question.
Your second sentence doesn’t work grammatically because the word “still” is in the wrong place. When the verb is negated, you need to put word “still” before the word “not”. Thus, any of the following are possible:
1a) “You have [color=blue]still not seen …?”
1b) “You [color=blue]still have not seen …?”
I’d say the most commonly used of the four sentences above would be the first one.
[color=white].
.
The word “yet” works a little differently. The most common location for “yet” is at the end of the sentence:
However, you can also insert the word “yet” between the word “not” and the main verb (i.e. after the word “not”):
Ok…Great!
Anyway, in terms of meaning, those two sentences “Have you still not seen …?” and “You still haven’t seen …?” are exactly the same, right? or Is there a difference when you use them to ask?
Thanks a million!
I’d say that in both sentences, using “still” is a little more emphatic than using “yet”.
Using normal interrogative word order (“Have you still not seen …?”) tends to make the sentence seem more like a real question. The phrasing of your other sentence (“You still haven’t seen …?”) seems to be less a “real” question and more a sort of rhetorical request for confirmation of a fact that the speaker finds surprising or hard to believe. Otherwise, the meaning is the same.
.
Hey…I really appreciate it!
Thanks!