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Present Perfect
2 - Ever / Never / Have you ever...?
Have you ever...?
Have you ever...?
is a common structure used to ask about past
experience. For example:
- Have you ever met a famous person?
This roughly means: Do you have a past experience
of meeting a famous person / Did you meet a
famous person at any time in the past?
- Have you ever flown in a plane?
- Have you ever won a competition?
- Haven't you ever done this before?
Ever
Ever means
"at any time", the specific time is
unknown or unnecessary.
Ever is used
in questions, see "Have you ever..?"
above.
Ever is also
used with nothing, nobody and
so on for things that haven't happened before.
For example:
- Nobody has ever travelled through time.
- That window's been broken for months, but
nothing has ever been done about it.
Ever is also
used with "the first time" for first
experiences. For example:
- This is the first time I've been abroad.
- Is this your first time on a plane?
- This is the first time I've ever eaten dog
soup.
Ever can be
used in affirmative sentences though it is more
unusual and often old-fashioned. For more info
you can check out: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=ever
Never
Never is originally a contraction of "not
ever". Used with the Present Perfect it
means the subject hasn't had a certain experience
before. For example:
- Have you ever been abroad? No, I've never
been abroad.
I've never had that experience before.
- Have you ever been on a plane before? No,
I've never been on a plane.
Negative questions
are also possible. For example:
- Have you never eaten this before?
This shows surprise that you've never had a
certain experience before.
- Have you never played soccer?
-----
never.
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