Is the use of the word 'yet' gramatically correct in the current Jaguar XF ad on TV?

[dachse]

Is the use of the word 'yet' gramatically correct in the current Jaguar XF ad on TV?

Is goes something like: .....and why didn't we win in 2007? Because the XF wasn't in production yet.

I would have thought it should be ........wasn't in production then.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

[karenmac60]

'Then' could infer that it had been in production either since or previously. Yet would only infer since.

[joggerjayne]

the word "yet" seems totaally superfluous.

the sentence is the same without it.

[MarkRae]

Not quite, JJ. Karen is correct.

"Because the XF wasn't in production" could mean that the car was temporarily not being made at that time, but had been before and since e.g. from 1990-2006 and from 2008-2010...

Saying that it wasn't in production yet means, totally unambiguously, that in 2007 the XF had never been manufactured.

[joggerjayne]

okaaay

[mike11111]

'Yet' means up to the present time. 'As yet' means up to the time under consideration, so would make more sense here.

[dachse]

Thanks for your replies.
It sounds completely wrong to me to say 'yet' when referring to something in the past. Are any of you responders American? It sounds more like something that would be said in US rather than 'real' English.

[joggerjayne]

im amrerican

okay, not really.

[dachse]

Just caught the ad again and the actual words are:
..(in 2007) the XF hadn't been released yet.

So MarkRae, your argument doesn't strictly hold up does it.

[ELVIS68]

Whatever it is, I can`t afford one `yet`

[joggerjayne]

lol

[MarkRae]

> Just caught the ad again and the actual words are:
> ..(in 2007) the XF hadn't been released yet.
>
> So MarkRae, your argument doesn't strictly hold up does it.

Yes it does. In what way do you think it doesn't...?

[BertiWooster]

I've been working my socks off for years now , ' yet ' i cant afford to buy one

[Quizmonster]

There is nothing wrong with the use of yet in the advert. As Chambers Dictionary, for example, explains, the word does not always mean up to NOW, but may also be used to mean hitherto...ie up to THAT time. As the relevant year - 2007 - had already been mentioned, the word is perfectly acceptable.

[MarkRae]

Indeed so.

And there's also nothing wrong with using 'as yet' to mean up to the present time either.

E.g. "I applied for a job last week but as yet haven't received a reply."

[dachse]

Thanks to all, I stand corrected. (Although it still sounds wrong to me - lol.)

[jno]

nothing wrong with the last one, MarkRaie, but superfluous all the same.

[scotman]

I would usually say ...not yet in production or ... not yet been released. Much more elegant.

[dachse]

Yes Scotman, that sounds a lot better.

[sandyRoe]

"Wasn't yet in production" has an elegant simplicity about it.

[gingejbee]

I'm with dachse on this one - I'd use "yet" talking in the present, but not use it with something in the past.