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Wed 2 Mar, 2005 10:31 pm
Hallo,
What is the difference between these two sentences?
1 I have just had my lunch
2 I just have had my lunch
The idea behind asking this question is to know where to place ‘just’ correctly and whether the use of ‘just’ used in sentence 2 gives a slightly different meaning to it from sentence 1. Is it correct to use ‘just’ the way it is used in sentence 2?
PS- I need a very detailed answer.
Thanks
The meaning in sentence 2 is just as clear as in sentence 1, and it means the exact same thing, but it sounds awkward and incorrect to me. I think that in that context, using "I just have" is wrong, but I'm not entirely sure.
If you were saying it and only implying the verb, as if someone had just asked you "Have you had lunch?" and you were responding without explicitly restating the verb, than it would be fine to say "I just have" although it would probably be more usual to say "I just did". But you would never say "I have just" unless you were going to finish it with an explicitly stated verb.
Hope that helps.