Unit 14: New Year, New Project
Present perfect with just, already and yet
Select a unit
- 1 Nice to meet you!
- 2 What to wear
- 3 Like this, like that
- 4 The daily grind
- 5 Christmas every day
- 6 Great achievers
- 7 The Titanic
- 8 Travel
- 9 The big wedding
- 10 Sunny's job hunt
- 11 The bucket list
- 12 Moving and migration
- 13 Welcome to BBC Broadcasting House
- 14 New Year, New Project
- 15 From Handel to Hendrix
- 16 What's the weather like?
- 17 The Digital Revolution
- 18 A detective story
- 19 A place to live
- 20 The Cult of Celebrity
- 21 Welcome to your new job
- 22 Beyond the planets
- 23 Great expectations!
- 24 Eco-tourism
- 25 Moving house
- 26 It must be love
- 27 Job hunting success... and failure
- 28 Speeding into the future
- 29 Lost arts
- 30 Tales of survival
Session 3
The words just, already and yet are often used in a business and work context. Let's have look at that now as we join a morning meeting in a technology company.
Activity 1
The O-Brush
Mornings will never be the same...
In the last two sessions we looked the present perfect tense with just, already and yet. Now let's look at this language in the context of a business meeting…
Welcome to Smarter Mornings Ltd. Their products make your mornings even easier and more relaxing! You're going to listen to a business meeting in which the Smarter Mornings staff discuss a new product – the O-Brush.
What do you think it does?
A. It cleans your teeth while you're still asleep
B. It cleans your teeth only when they need it
C. It sends you a message if your breath smells
Now listen to the audio to see if you guessed correctly. Check the vocabulary box if you need help with new words.
Listen to the audio and try the activity
Coughing and rustling paper.
Suzi
Thank you for coming, everyone. Martin, the agenda?
Martin
Oh yes, thank you, Suzi. Just one item on the agenda today – the O-Brush. We've already reached week two of January – and, as we know, we need to deliver by March. Rufus, tell us some more.
Rufus
Ok, right, well… This is going to revolutionise your morning. None of our competitors have done this yet. The O-Brush not only cleans, it reads you the news headlines, tells you about traffic delays, and even takes a 'mouth selfie' – a picture of the inside of your mouth, and posts it to social media!
(general cheering and applause)
Rufus
And, the best bit. It sends you a text when your breath smells.
Martin
Wow. That's just fantastic, Rufus. Really fantastic. Now, any updates on the design?
Rufus
Yeah, sure, we've made this prototype.
Toothbrush being handled and passed around
Suzi
Wow - already? Great job. Love the pink handle. What about money - how much is it going to cost?
Rufus
Well we haven't finished the full budget yet Suzi. But we think it will sell for £50.
Martin
Fabulous… I'm excited. And Zack, what about marketing?
Zack
I've just received the market research. This is going to sell like hot cakes.
Martin
Very good, very good. So, does this prototype work? (Martin switches it on) Oh, there we go! It's… it feels fantastic!
BEEP
Martin
What was that?
Suzi
I think that was your phone, Martin. It just beeped.
O-Brush
THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM YOUR O-BRUSH. MARTIN, YOUR BREATH SMELLS. THANK YOU.
Coughing
Martin
It's obviously not quite ready yet.
Suzi
Er, any other business?
To do
That was an interesting meeting! So, the O-Brush actually texts you - sends you a message on your phone - if your breath smells.
We heard just, yet and already quite a few times. Suzi said: "I think that was your phone, Martin. It just beeped." Martin said: "It's obviously not quite ready yet."
In natural spoken English, people don't always use just, yet and already with the present perfect, but the meaning of the words is still the same. Have a go at this this multiple choice quiz to see and practice some more example sentences.
Already, just, yet quiz
6 Questions
Choose the correct word to complete each sentence
Help
Activity
Choose the correct word to complete each sentence
Hint
Which word do we use when we are surprised because something has happened sooner than we expected?Question 1 of 6
Help
Activity
Choose the correct word to complete each sentence
Hint
This is a short negative answer. Which word do we usually use in negative sentences?Question 2 of 6
Help
Activity
Choose the correct word to complete each sentence
Hint
It sounds like the message came a short time ago. Which word can we use for that?Question 3 of 6
Help
Activity
Choose the correct word to complete each sentence
Hint
This sounds like something that happened very recentlyQuestion 4 of 6
Help
Activity
Choose the correct word to complete each sentence
Hint
Present perfect is not used here but the sentence is negative and the missing word is at the end. Any ideas?Question 5 of 6
Help
Activity
Choose the correct word to complete each sentence
Hint
The speaker sounds surprised. Which word shows us someone is surprised?Question 6 of 6
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
Next
Well done! There were a lot of business words in the O-Brush conversation, like agenda, budget and market research. Do you know what they all mean? Try our quiz on the next page.
Session Grammar
just = a very short time ago.
She’s just finished her second year at university.
already = before now, or earlier than expected.
I've already done that module.
yet = 'before now', or 'until now'.
I haven't had lunch yet.
Have you finished your essay yet?
Session Vocabulary
agenda
the subject you plan to talk about in a meetingitem
(here) one subject you talk about in a meetingdeliver
finish a projectcompetitors
people or companies who are trying to be more successful than youupdates
information about progress of a projectprototype
the first example of a productbudget
the amount of money you have to spend on somethingmarketing
the things companies do, for example advertising, to persuade people to buy thingsmarket research
collecting and studying information about what people buy and whysell like hot cakes
to sell very quickly