Learn English – “Do they not ever learn” or “Don’t they ever learn?”

negation

My students told me that they are supposed to write

"Do they not ever learn"

instead of

"Don't they ever learn".

I suspect that all of them misunderstood something in the grammar class. Or am I mistaken? Can anyone help out?

Best Answer

It seems to me like their teacher was teaching them formal or business English, in which case they might have been told never to use contractions. That seems like the only reasonable explanation.