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Ever

Ever is an adverb.

Ever: at any time​

Questions​

We use ever in questions:

  • Has he ever scored a goal before? (at any time in his life)
  • Do you ever dream about winning the lottery?
  • Have you ever heard of The Ivy restaurant?

Negatives​

We can use not … ever in negatives, but never is more common than not ever:

  • Laurie doesn’t ever call me at weekends. or Laurie never calls me …
  • We haven’t ever had a problem with noise in the neighbourhood before or We’ve never had a problem with noise …

We use ever in negative statements with words like no one, nobody and hardly:

  • No one ever told me what had happened.
  • I have hardly ever eaten Vietnamese food.

Ever after if​

We can use ever immediately after if or in mid position (between the subject and the main verb, or after the modal verb or first auxiliary verb, or after main verb be):

  • If ever you move house, I’d advise you to get a good removal company.
  • If you ever go to Edinburgh, make sure to visit the Art Gallery.
  • If I had ever wanted to stay in Manchester, they would have made me very welcome, I’m sure.

Ever so and ever such​

We use ever before so and such to add emphasis:

  • I feel ever so cold.
  • He was ever such a kind man.
See also
  • So
  • Such

Ever since​

We use ever before since to emphasise that something has been true from the beginning of a specific period of time:

  • Ever since we met, we have been such great friends.
  • Mrs Leech doesn’t go for walks on her own ever since she fell.

As … as ever​

We can use ever with the comparative form as … as …. This shows a permanent characteristic of someone or something:

  • A: How is work?
  • B: Don’t ask! It’s as busy as ever.
  • They’ve built a new road around the city but traffic is as bad as ever.

Ever meaning ‘always’​

In more formal situations, we can use ever with adjectives to mean ‘always’:

  • The company cannot sustain ever-decreasing profits.
  • Jones was ever available to help the family.