EOI MANRESA LEVEL 4th GROUP C

EVER and NEVER

1. ever is a non-affirmative word

ever is a “non-affirmative word”, which means that it is not often used in affirmativesentences. Compare:

I sometimes go to the theater I met the Prime Minister  onceDo you ever go to the theater? Have you ever met the Prime Minister?

Non affirmative words are common in questions and negative sentences but also in other cases where we are not making affirmative statements as for example in if -clauses, after comparisons, and together with adverbs, verbs, prepositions, adjectives and determinersthat have a negative meaning.

Let me know if you ever meet him.He denied that he had ever seen her.Please forget that I ever told you anything about it.Few 

 

 people have ever seen her laugh.

2. ever meaning at any time As a non-affirmative word, ever is used specially in question to mean “at any time”.Compare:

Do you ever go to Ireland on Holiday? (= at any time)We always go to Ireland on Holiday. (= every time)We never have holidays in England (= at no time)

Ever  is possible in negative clauses but never is more common than not ever  :I don't ever want to see you again (= I never want to see you again)

We also use ever after if , and with words that express a negative idea (ike nobody,hardly or stop) :

Come and see us if you are ever in Manchester.Nobody ever visits hem.I hardly ever see may sister I'm going to stop her ever doing that again.

3. With comparatives, superlatives, as and only.Ever is used in affirmative clauses in comparisons and with only .

You're looking lovelier than ever .What's the best book you've ever read?It's the largest picture ever painted.He's as charming as ever.She is the only woman ever to have climbed Everest in winter.

4. ever + perfectEver is often used with perfect tenses to mean “at any time up to now/then”

Have you ever been to Greece?Had 

 

you ever thought of getting married before you met June?

5. Ever meaning “always”Ever is not normally used to mean always

I shall always remember you. NOT I shall ever remember you.

 

But ever is sometimes used to mean always in compound expressions with adjectives andparticiples

His ever-open mouth an ever-increasing debt evergreen trees her  ever-loving husband 

6. ever so, ever suchThis expressions are often used in informal English to mean very.

She's ever so  nice! It's ever such  a good film.

Never 

1. Never is a negative word that can make negative clauses just as not .He's never at home.

We do not normally use the auxiliary do with negative words other than “not”.He never works NOT He does never work.

However, do/did can be used for emphasis and contrast: A: I thought you had liked her some years ago.

B: I never did like her.

2. Never with perfect tenses: Never is a time word used to talk about finished events meaning “at no time up tonow/then”.

She's never said sorry in her life.She'd never said sorry until she had that accident.

Source: Michael Swan, Practical English Usage, OUP