How to Use NEVER and EVER Correctly Basic English Grammar
hi everybody my name is Alisha today I’m
going to talk about the difference or
some of the differences between the
words never and ever there are a lot of
questions about how to use these words
so let’s take a look okay the first word
I want to start with is never let’s talk
about never to begin never is an adverb
it means at no time in the past or in
the future never is the contracted form
of the words not and ever so not an ever
together make never never so never means
at no time at no time we use never in a
few different situations I’m going to
explain some examples now we use never
to give statements or to give advice or
to explain a statement rather so let’s
look at a couple examples first never
skip breakfast never skip breakfast is
an example of advice this is advice or
perhaps we could consider this a command
so never skip breakfast meaning at no
time should you or should one skip
breakfast never skip breakfast as a
command or a type of advice in this case
in a statement however we see this
example I never travel with lots of cash
so this is a statement of fact in this
case I’m using the present tense
I never travel you can use the past
tense I’ve never traveled as well but
keep in mind never shows at no time do I
travel in present tense in this case
with lots of cash so this is an example
of a statement a simple statement with
the word never okay let’s look at
another way to use the word never we use
never in in cases where we want to
explain an absence of experience so no
experience no life experience with
something so we use this with the past
participle verb so it’s never with the
past participle form of the verb in
these patterns for example
I’ve never been to Vietnam here I’ve got
the contracted eyes which is the
contracted form of I have I have never
been to Vietnam Binh is my past
participial verb here another example
he’s never eaten kimchi so here
the contraction he’s is he is refers to
he I’m sorry the contracted form of he’s
refers to he has in this sentence so
he’s never eaten kimchi he has never
eaten kimchi my past participle verb is
eaten here so we use these to talk about
no experience no life experience with
something this one is maybe one that
many of you have had a lot of practice
with okay but let’s look at another one
that requires some changes to your
intonation perhaps when we ask questions
for confirmation as in yes or no
questions we can use the word never so
keep in mind that these expressions are
used with kind of a nuance of disbelief
or surprised you’re surprised about
something and you’re asking the question
just to check with the other person is
this correct for example you’ve never
been sick so the emphasis here is on the
word never with the voice you’ve never
been sick again you can see I have the
past participle form of the verb here so
we’re saying you have never been meaning
have the experience of you have never
had the experience of being sick and
here I’ve used a very informal kind of
punctuation I’ve used a question mark
and an exclamation point
but generally we should only use one
type of punctuation here but with your
voice you should emphasize the word
never the new ones here is disbelief
let’s look at another example
she’s never taken a day off she’s never
taken a day off so again with my voice I
emphasized the word never she’s never
taken a day off so I’m surprised by this
information I’m surprised to hear and I
want to confirm because it sounds like
it could be untrue it sounds like it
might not be real so I use this
to confirm what I’ve just heard or what
I’ve just learned when you answer these
questions by the way
sometimes it’s a little bit difficult
even for native speakers to decide
should I say yes or no if you want to be
very clear you can say that’s right
I’ve never been sick in this example or
that’s right she’s never taken a day off
you can use that’s right or you’re right
or yes that’s right to explain an answer
to this question okay so those are a few
examples of ways we can use the word
never in some sentence patterns let’s
take a look now at the word ever so ever
has a few more situations then never
does I want to explain these today so
first again ever
like never is an adverb but ever means
at any time or at all times keep in mind
that never means at no time at no time
ever means at any time or at all time so
you can think of these a little bit as
opposites in a way we use ever when
we’re making questions so for example
have you ever eaten Thai food or has she
ever called you here we see the words
ever meaning at anytime so at any time
has she called you at any time have you
eaten Thai food this is a different way
to ask the question so you’ll notice
these types of questions will get these
kinds of responses a negative response
admittedly but there’s a connection here
when you want to make a negative
response you can use never so these are
some may be example questions this type
of question maybe you’re familiar with
again we see the past participle form of
the verb in these questions sentences
eaten and called here so this is one way
that we can use the word ever and
another way we can use it when we make
negative statements let’s take a look at
some examples
first he hasn’t ever yelled at me so
here’s ever and they haven’t ever been
to France so once more we see this past
participle form of the verb yelled and
been in these examples but we see also
I’m using the negative has not and have
not so there’s this negative not before
the word ever here please keep in mind
you can use never in these situations
but you need to change the sentence
slightly so you can use the negative
form as we have here plus ever like has
not ever or have not ever or you can
simply use the word never mmm for
example he’s never yelled at me or
they’ve never been to France because
remember the word never is a contraction
of the words not and ever so regardless
of which you choose both sentences are
okay both sentences explain the same
meaning okay let’s look at another
example superlatives superlatives
remember superlatives means like the
most something the most plus an
adjective so the highest level of
something
for example she made the most delicious
chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten the most
delicious chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten
so here is a superlative most delicious
and here I’m saying in my life the most
delicious one I have ever eaten you
might also see this sentence simplified
to she made the most delicious chocolate
cake ever this ever contains the meaning
I’ve ever eaten I’ve ever eaten so
native speakers like to simplify this
expression at the end of the sentence
with just the word ever
you might hear this another very common
example is this expression best day ever
meaning today for me was the best day in
my life
best day ever best day ever so you might
see this with superlatives here the
superlative is best best okay we also
see the word ever used when we talk
about the first time to do something our
first time doing something for example
this is the first time I’m sorry this is
the first time I’ve ever traveled abroad
forgot my ever there
this is the first time I’ve ever
traveled abroad so here ever acts as an
emphasize ER for first time so the
sentence this is the first time I’ve
traveled abroad is fine actually
but ever emphasizes that the first time
at my in my whole life in other words at
all times this is the first time I’ve
ever traveled abroad you’ll see ever
acting kind of to emphasize the
expression in first time sentences we
can use ever when we make comparisons so
I talked about the superlative form here
like most delicious or best in my
examples but you’ll see here in the
expressions higher than ever or faster
than ever or stronger than ever we can
use ever to make the comparison so here
we also use van van so ever here is
meaning at any time in the past anytime
previous to this statement so for
example profits are higher than ever
ever referring to any time in the past
or these cars are faster than ever
meaning at any time in the past compared
to any time in the past the cars
available now are faster so we can use
ever to make comparisons quite easily to
next let’s look at some commands so
there’s a fairly limited number of
natural commands that we use with the
word ever but some examples might be
don’t ever say that or don’t ever lie to
me again this same rule negative plus
ever or never this can also apply here
so for example never say that or never
lie to me we can use those expressions
to you’ll just see these two don’t ever
or don’t ever say that or don’t ever lie
to me these might be a couple of other
ways people use the expression people
use a command form but again the same
rule applies negative plus ever alright
almost finished let’s take a look at
adjectives intensifiers you might see
this in more formal situations or
perhaps in slightly old-fashioned
writing
ever can act as an adjective intensifier
when used with a word so so ever so +
adjective for example ever so delicious
this cake was ever so delicious
or she was ever so kind these just
emphasize the adjective that follows so
they they’re just essentially meaning
very really or extremely but they sound
quite formal they sound rather polite
though so we can use ever to intensify
to strengthen the meaning of an
adjective okay those are the main points
I want to talk about but one final thing
is the expression never ever a couple
examples I never ever eat junk food or
he never ever comes to work late or we
never ever forget to lock the house
these sentences use both never and ever
together so let’s take a look what does
this mean actually never ever is just an
emphasis for the word never so meaning
at no time anytime does this thing
happen so it’s an emphasis for the word
never
that’s what never ever never ever means
emphasis emphasis never ever means
emphasis on the word never so if you see
this that’s what it means okay so those
are a few ways that you can reuse the
words never and ever of course there are
many different situations in many
different sentences where you can use
these if you have any questions or
comments please feel free to let us know
in the comment section below this video
what else I guess that’s it okay so
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