Learn English – What does “ever” mean

meaningsentence-meaning

  • The orchestra is to perform its last ever concert/last
    concert ever tomorrow night at the Albert Hall.

  • Yesterday the company announced its first ever fall in
    profits.

These two sentences have been taken from the following link.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ever

I am sorry to say that I cannot understand the meaning of these two sentences. What does "ever" function in these sentences? What does this word (ever) mean? I would be grateful if anybody rewrite those two sentences in different ways without changing their meaning, hence I can easily understand them.

Thanks in advance!

Best Answer

The adverb ever is mainly used in negative and interrogative sentences to mean "at any time". Besides, it is used for emphasizing that something has never happened before or should never happen.

In the first sentence, the last ever concert means that it's the last concert that the archestra is going to perform; it will not perform again in the future.

In the second sentence, "the first ever fall in profits" means that it's the first time that there has been a fall in profits; there has never been a fall in profits before.

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