Dear Geist,

Which is right: “Science is yet to find out why” (as it is worded in a reputable political/business magazine), or “Science has yet to find out why” (as I think it should be worded)?

Dear Marnie Ann,

We agree that “Science has yet to find out why” is the preferable version, simply because “has yet to” is the idiom, therefore it is familiar to more speakers and readers of English. But “is yet” is acceptable too, because it occurs in spoken and written English. None of our usage guides mentions either version, let alone giving either a thumbs-down, so there you go.

We should add that the sentence “The best is yet to come,” built on a slightly different idiom, is also perfectly acceptable. Perhaps that is where the “is yet” wording came from.