Can someone please tell me what the difference is between the two phrases: Have not and Have never?
As far as I know, "have not" is usually used to mean that something has not happened in a period while "have never" means that it happened at no time in the past.
However, I am wondering if we can use "have never" when the time period we use is the entire period of an event.
Example 1:
A: Have you ever seen any beggars in this neighborhood?
B: No, I have never seen one in this neighborhood in the past 25 years. (B has been living in this neighborhood for 25 years.)
Example 2
The defeat of Japan in 1945 was something the country had never experienced in the past 2500 years. (It's the length of the whole history of the country)
Example 3
The appearance of humans was something that had never happened on this planet in the previous three billion years.
However, when it comes to a period of time that is short or not the whole time span of an event, we should use "have not".
Example 4
A: Have you seen this guy in the past six months?
B: No, I haven't seen anyone like this in the past six months.
Example 5
I have not played basketball for a month.
I have two questions here
-
Do I distinguish the two phrases correctly?
-
Can we ever use "ever" in a sentence that states a period of time: For example, can we change Example 4 to "A: Have you ever seen this guy in the past six months?" B: No, I have never seen this guy in the past six months"
Thanks in advance. Any advice is welcome!
Best Answer
Have not can be used for something that you didn't do at a certain time,
e.g (I have not done the homework) this could be a simple one time occurrence and every time previously you have done it
Using the other example,
(I have never done the maths homework) for all the time you have been doing maths you never completed the homework once.
[As a side note, I have not can be used with yet (I have not done the Maths homework yet) to indicate you are probably going to do it in the future, you can't use I have never with yet.]
[Another side note, you can use "I have never" as a sort of exaggeration (usually adding ever, so "never ever", as in:
Girlfriend - Did you lie to me?
Boyfriend - I have never ever lied to you?
Obviously, everyone lies to people at some point, so it was used as emphasis]
I hope this helped :3