Hi
I’d like to know the difference between ‘ever’ and ‘never’. thank you
1 Like
“Never” is the same as “not ever”. “Ever” means “at any time”.
Example:
It will never be 1990 again. Will it ever be 1990? No it will not ever (never) be 1990 again.
1 Like
You can also say “for ever” or simply “forever” which means “for the rest of time” or “for all of time”. “Never” is pretty much the same as “jamais” in French, “forever” is pretty much the same as “eternally”, which is, as I´m sure you guessed from the Latin/French word “éternellement” anyway. If you think of it in French, “never” or “not ever” really means “pas dans l’éternité” - which again, is really just “jamais”
1 Like
These words are opposite, they are antonyms.
ever = at any time, in any case, at any point, on any occasion.
never = at no time, not ever, by no means, in no case.
For example:
Have you ever been to New York? - No, I’ve never been there.
2 Likes
Thank you @evgueny and @rokkvi.
Can we say that we use ‘ever’ in interrogative sentences and ‘never’ in other cases?
here’s some examples:
would you ever like to go to france?
yes! i would like to go to france.
would you like to go to france?
no, i would never like to go to france.
no, i would not ever like to go to france.
‘Ever’ is usually used with negations and in questions, but it can be used also in positive sentences, often for emphasis, i.e.:
It is the best fiilm I have ever seen.
‘Never’ is always used in negative sentences, i.e.:
She will never agree to it.
His room is never tidy.
2 Likes
Exactly. Never is short for “not ever”. It also helps to understand the meaning of “ever” in the context of “for ever” (forever) and “when ever” (whenever).
I like exemples, thank you
1 Like
That is probably usually the case, but there may be exceptions. One I can think of is: “Have you (really) never been to France?” One might ask this question in disbelief. In other words, the person asking the question really thought the other person had been to France. Does that make sense?
I suspect that the ever/never distinction is one that may be hard to learn through rules, but that if you just pay attention to these words whenever you read or hear them, you will eventually recognize the patterns and get used to them.
1 Like
Yes you can ask “have you ever” or “have you never” depending on what you are asking and expecting. If you don´t know whether something has happened, you´d usually ask “have you ever”, but if you think something should have happened, but get some information that suggests it hasn´t “have you never” is a logical question, although more often it would be worded as “haven´t you ever”.
Case: You have no idea whether Pierce has been to France: “Pierce, have you ever been to France?”
Case: Pierces says he´s never seen a lion in his life, but you know he lives close to a plenty of zoos and you believe most zoos have some lions, so you find it really strange if he has indeed never seen one: “Pierce, have you never been to a zoo?”
1 Like
"but that if you just pay attention to these words whenever you read or hear them, you will eventually recognize the patterns and get used to them. "
That’s right and with this topics, I understand better where is the difficulty and where I have to pay attention.
1 Like