difference in meaning depending on placement of "already"

Question

Maybe the bus already left.
Maybe the bus has already left.
Maybe the bus has left already.

I am not a native speaker so don't know if there is any difference among those three sentences, not knowing if there is any grammatical error as well.

Which one is the best??

You cannot say "the difference among". That is ungrammatical. It must be "difference between". — tchrist, Aug 11 '18 at 01:42

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 17 '15 at 07:01

In this particular example, there is really no meaningful difference. All three are equally grammatical, sound normal if spoken, and would be understood by a native speaker to mean the same thing.

Other sentences and other adverbs might allow more placements and entail subtle variations in meaning. But in your examples, I can see no other valid place to put "already".

difference in meaning depending on placement of "already"

1 Answers1