In this post, I’m going to share with you a sentence structure that can be quite confusing to many English learners. It is confusing because it can create a negative sentence without using any negative words like not or don’t or can’t or won’t. Not even a negative prefix.
By the way, talking about negatives, I have another post about the confusing meaning of double negatives. In that one I talk about how you can use double negatives in English correctly to create a positive sentence. Check it out. I think you will find it interesting.
But in this post, you will learn how you can do the opposite – make a negative sentence without using a single negative word.
I have yet to …
You can do it by using the words yet and still. Probably most of you have heard yet used in sentences like:
I haven’t finished my homework yet.
or:
He hasn’t called yet.
As you see in these examples, we use the negative auxiliary verbs haven’t and hasn’t and the adverb yet. This means that something hasn’t happened up to this point.
But what if you see this sentence:
I have yet to finish my homework.
or:
He has yet to call.
Although we technically don’t have a negative word in these sentences, they are still negative. He has yet to call has the same meaning as He hasn’t called yet. The phrase have yet to or has yet to means that there is something – an event, a task, or some activity – that hasn’t occurred or hasn’t been completed up to this moment.
For example, look at the sentence below:
I have yet to see a person who doesn’t like pizza.
Technically this is the same as:
I haven’t seen a person who doesn’t like pizza.
Although we do have the negative auxiliary verb doesn’t in the second part of the sentence – who doesn’t like pizza, the first part of the sentence – I have yet to see is negative too.
Here are some other examples:
Adam has yet to sign up for classes.
My sister has yet to apologize to me for what she did last week.
I’ve always wanted to learn French, but I have yet to sign up for a lesson.
Practice
Ok, let’s practice. Look at the sentences below and use yet to keep them in their negative form. Basically, your goal is to keep the meaning without using the negative auxiliary verbs. You can find the answers in the video above. Ready? Here we go:
I have never been to India.
He just moved to a new city and hasn’t found a job.
We haven’t received your application.
My boss has never asked others for their opinion.
I have still to …
There is actually one more word that you can use instead of yet here and this is the word still.
For example, you can say:
I have still to watch the new Barbie movie.
This means that you haven’t watched it yet.
To practice, you can use the same examples that I gave you earlier for the word yet.
I am yet to … / I am still to …
When using still or yet, I sometimes hear or see people write the auxiliary verbs am, is, or are instead of have or has.
For example:
I am still to watch the new Barbie movie.
or:
He is still to apologize to me for what he did.
If you choose to use am, is, or are, make sure to use the infinitive form of the verb – to watch, to apologize etc., and not the gerund form, which is the one with the -ing ending.
For example, I’m still watching this movie has a different meaning than I am still to watch the movie. I’m still watching means that you have started watching it, but haven’t finished it yet. I’m still to watch means that you haven’t started watching it yet.
We can do the same with yet. You can say: I am yet to go to India instead of I have yet to go to India. Both are correct, although if you search online, you can find a slightly larger number of results using have and has.
★
If you choose to use yet and still to form negative sentences using this grammatical form, make sure not to do it too often. It could sound a little more dramatic and I see it more frequently in writing than in spoken language. But it’s definitely worth knowing because I hear or see it often enough and I know that sometimes people are confused.
Now it’s your turn. Come up with at least one negative sentence using YET and Still, and put it in the comment section.
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