student asking question

Can I skip "just" here? What's different between these two?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Great question. Just" implies that it happened immediately before you spoke. Putting "just" puts the emphasis on when you did something or when something happened (in the very near past). Without "just", while the sentence is still correct, it loses the nuance of recently. Ex: I've just seen Susan coming out of the cinema. Ex: Mike's just called. Can you ring him back, please? Ex: Have you just taken my pen?!

Popular Q&As

04/21

Complete the expression with a quiz!