Learn English – Use of “yet”, “however” and “but”

conjunctionsdifferenceword-usage

Here are some sentences with 'Yet', 'however' and 'and'

  1. She hasn't got many friends, yet everyone likes her.

  2. She hasn't got many friends, however, everyone likes her.

  3. She hasn't got many friends, but everyone likes her.

I'm actually confused with the use of ‘yet’ because it's quite similar to ‘but’ and ‘however’. So, how is ‘yet’ different from them? Could you please tell me how to distinguish the differences in the usage of them.

Best Answer

In this context, all three have much the same meaning. "However" is a bit more of a "formal" expression and so you would normally put a longer pause or a full stop before saying or writing it.

I like most food. However, I'm not all that fond of lobster.

as compared to

I like most food, but I'm not all that fond of lobster.

As an expression to indicate a change in direction, both "yet" and "but" mean much the same thing and are interchangeable. You might substitute one for the other to avoid repetition:

I like most food, but I'm not all that fond of lobster. Yet I like crab.

This means exactly the same thing as:

I like most food, yet I'm not all that fond of lobster. But I like crab.

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