- UNIT 52 -

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?

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