Positioning the adverb ‘still’ in a sentence can be difficult for learners of English because it doesn’t follow the usual rules for other adverbs. Note, in particular, how with the exception of the Present and Past Simple tenses, and the Present Progressive tense, it changes position when there is a contraction in negative sentences.
Present Simple
‘Still’ is after the subject in all cases
- I still eat
- I still do not eat
- I still don’t eat
Simple Past
‘Still’ is after the subject in all cases
- I still ate
- I still did not eat
- I still didn’t eat
Simple Future
‘Still’ is after the subject and auxiliary verb but before the auxiliary verb for negative sentences which are abbreviated.
- I will still eat
- I’ll still eat
- I will still not eat
- I still won’t eat
Present progressive
‘Still’ is after both the subject and the auxiliary verb
- I am still eating
- I’m still eating
- I am still not eating
- I’m still not eating
Past progressive
‘Still’ is after both the subject and the auxiliary verb but after the subject and before the auxiliary verb for negative sentences which are abbreviated (note the difference between this and the Present Perfect Progressive, due to the different form of abbreviation).
- I was still eating
- I was still not eating
- I still wasn’t eating
Present Perfect Simple
‘Still’ is after the subject and auxiliary verb but after the auxiliary verb for negative sentences which are abbreviated.
- I have still eaten
- I’ve still eaten
- I have still not eaten
- I still haven’t eaten
Future Simple and all modal verbs –
‘Still’ is after the subject and auxiliary verb but after the auxiliary verb for negative sentences which are abbreviated.
- I will still eat
- I’ll still eat
- I will still not eat
- I still won’t eat
- I should still eat
- I should still not eat
- I still shouldn’t eat
- I can still eat
- I can still not eat
- I still can’t eat
Please note that what I have shown here is where ‘still’ is positioned in most situations. Its position can change, however, according to its emphasis or that of other words within a sentence. For example, if you want to emphasise the length of time something is taking, you might choose to say, ‘So, you are eating, still? ‘or if you want to emphasis the negative nature of a sentence, you might say ‘No, I did not still eat!’ However, for learners of English it is best to follow the sentence structures given above, to sound more natural and to avoid mistakes.
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