I know for a fact now that 'yet' is heard used in American English in affirmative statements like the following. 1 and 2 (and perhaps 3) are okay but 4. I just can't seem to see the rules with this. It has got to do with 'time' being early, and 'yet' has to be placed at the end of the sentence and right after the time expression. But I can't figure out why 4 is off.
- A: We've got to hurry! B: Oh, calm down. It's early yet.
- A: Is he coming back soon? Has he finished his job in Beijing? B: No, he has two years yet.
- We have a long time yet. We still can go to the gym.
- We are only thirty minutes into the work yet. But I'm already tired.
Added queries: (1) the word or phrase before 'yet' — what would you say other than 'early' or the time expressions like 'two years,'a long time' etc.?
(2) Would you say, "There is three hours yet" to mean "We have three hours yet"?
Best Answer
The adverbial yet stands at the junction of past and future, expressing the persistence of action in time:
The first example from Wikipedia is persistence through the past into the present with implications of the future. Examining my past performance I have never been late, and that past performance offers an implicit promise of the future.
The second example is persistence in the present with implications of the past. I am still standing, but the larger context indicates that the past circumstances have not necessarily been favorable.
The third example is persistence in the future with implications of past and present. Through the past and up to the present, I have not arrived, but I will eventually arrive in the future.
The polarity behavior of yet requires a specific licensing context, which is a pivot between negative and positive polarity. Toward the past yet tends to be a negative polarity item, but it tends to pivot into a positive polarity item toward the future. This polarity pivot can happen in the present, depending on its connection to the context of past and future. Examining the Wikipedia examples:
Examining the polarity of yet in definitions at Oxford Dictionaries Online:
The expressed polarity toward the past is consistently negative, and a pivot to positive polarity toward the future is consistently expressed or implied, while the polarity in the present is determined by its connection to past and future.
Within the historical perspective of the statement, the comparison of the "current" congress to those of the past creates a negative polarity toward the past and pivots to positive polarity in the present.
The polarity in the present is expressed as negative, while the pivot to a positive polarity toward the future is implied--[you may go in the future].
An negative polarity in the present is implied--[there are forces that might oppose my hope] and yet pivots to a positive polarity toward the future.
The polarity toward the past or in the present is implied as negative--[past research has not explained the enigma]...[there may be reasons to believe she is dead], and yet pivots to positive polarity toward the future.
The positive-negative comparisons create a pivot, extending the normal licensing context for yet.
Examining the examples of the OP:
The context implies a negative polarity in the present rush and pivots to a positive polarity toward the future.
No creates a negative polarity in the present time frame, and yet pivots into a positive polarity toward the future--he will come back after two years.
The context implies a negative polarity in the present time frame--[we don't need to go to the gym now], and yet pivots into a positive polarity toward the future--we can go to the gym sometime in the future.
Only creates a negative polarity toward the past and the conjunction but extends the negative polarity in the present, but the necessary pivot into a positive polarity is missing. The pivot would have been expressed by yet as a conjunction, if the sentence had been written:
Conclusion
In the OP, the fourth example is not idiomatic--even thought the definitions fit-- because the context defies the licensing context for yet, which expresses or implies a pivot in polarity between past, present and future.