Talk:ever

every
According to Garner's fourth edition, "clipping every to ever is typical of dialect" --Backinstadiums (talk) 19:19, 15 December 2019 (UTC)

As intensifier following an interrogative word.
As intensifier following an interrogative word does not cover its example Was I ever glad to see you! --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:14, 10 February 2020 (UTC)
 * (old-fashioned, informal) used to show that you are surprised or shocked: Did you ever hear anything like it? --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:30, 1 August 2021 (UTC)

increasingly
to an increasing degree (formal) The questions were becoming ever more technical. Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:17, 10 February 2020 (UTC)


 * ...though this could be interpreted as the "always" sense: always more technical (as time passes). Note you can say "ever more" but not (in my experience) "ever less"; there are also constructions like "marching ever onward", even closer to the "always" sense but could possibly be fitted under Encarta's. Equinox ◑ 16:19, 10 February 2020 (UTC)

ever before
We have never ever or ever after, why not ever before or first-ever? --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:26, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

scarcely/hardly ever vs rarely/seldom ever
Scarcely ever and hardly ever, though technically redundant, are valued for their emphatic expressiveness, while rarely ever and seldom ever have not won such favor, so they are therefore best avoided --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:31, 1 August 2021 (UTC)

-ever
As in first-ever ? Backinstadiums (talk) 10:50, 31 October 2022 (UTC)

ever such a
Is this an idiom? She's ever such a good dancer. JMGN (talk) 18:02, 25 June 2023 (UTC)