ever
part of speech
adverb
meaning for a pupil
1) At any time: «Have you ever seen a whale?» tree →
2) Always, or all the time (in phrases): ever since, for ever, ever after. tree →
3) Used to make words stronger: the best day ever, ever so kind (UK). tree →
4) Than ever means more than at any time before, and as ever means just as always. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories: «happily ever after» ends fairy tales. In everyday talk: questions with «Have you ever…?» ask about experiences. In maths: «the biggest ever» means more than any before it. Phrases: ever since, for ever / forever, ever after, the best ever, hardly ever, ever so, whatever, whenever.
examples
- Have you ever been to the seaside? tree →
- This is the best birthday ever! tree →
- They lived happily ever after. tree →
- I have lived here ever since I was a baby. tree →
- We hardly ever eat sweets. tree →
- Thank you ever so much (UK). tree →
- Nobody ever told me that. tree →
- Is it ever safe to swim alone? No. tree →
- Marusia returned home sadder than ever. tree →
note
Used mostly in questions, after «not/never/hardly», and with comparatives and superlatives (the tallest ever). «Hardly ever» = almost never. Do not confuse «ever» (at any time) with «every» (each one). «Forever» can be one word (US) or «for ever» (UK).
In the corpora
- When a person dies, their body stops working for ever; it is not sleep, and they do not come back.
- Being dead means the body has stopped working for ever; it is not the same as sleep.
- If a grown-up's anger ever makes you frightened for your safety, tell another trusted adult.
- The best way to handle an accident with an adult film is to know what you will do before it ever happens.
- The coldest temperature ever measured at a weather station was about minus 89 degrees Celsius, at Vostok Station in Antarctica in 1983.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «ever» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.