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Already - English Grammar Today - Cambridge Dictionary
Already - English Grammar Today - Cambridge Dictionary
Already - English Grammar Today - Cambridge Dictionary
Already
Already
Grammar > Adjectives and adverbs > Adverbs > Time adverbs > Already
Already is an adverb.
Already: meaning
We use already to emphasise that something was completed before something else happened.
It is often used with the present perfect or past perfect:
The plane had already landed when the pilot announced that there would be a delay in
getting to the gate.
Already is also used to show surprise about things that have happened or will have happened
earlier than we expected.
Compare
There are already about ten people here. (that’s more than were expected at this time)
B: Yeah.
Already: position
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Already - English Grammar Today - Cambridge Dictionary https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-gra...
We usually put already in the normal mid position for adverbs (between the subject and the
main verb, or after the modal verb or first auxiliary verb, or after be as a main verb):
Warning:
We don’t use already between a verb and a direct object:
End position
We can use already at the end of a sentence for greater emphasis or to show greater surprise.
This is especially common in informal speaking:
Gosh, he’s finished painting the kitchen already! (end position is more emphatic)
Front position
Less often, we put already in front position (before the subject). This is usually more formal:
Already more than fifty thousand tickets have been sold for Saturday’s cup final match.
Their wedding in Rome was cancelled but we had already booked our flights and hotel, so
we decided to go.
You may hear American English speakers using already with the past simple.
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Already - English Grammar Today - Cambridge Dictionary https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-gra...
[verb] [object]
I’ve already drunk three coffees today!
See also:
Popular searches
01 Ought to
03 Conjunctions
04 Prefer
05 Since
06 Look forward to
07 Adjectives: forms
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love-struck
so in love with someone that it is difficult to behave as usual or even think of anything else
except the person you love
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