Learn English – “You’ve ever not got” vs “you’ve never got”

sentence-meaning

Are both sentences equal in meaning?

"You've ever not got it"

vs

"You've never got it"

Best Answer

For not to negate ever, the word not has to come right before ever. Never is pretty much an abbreviation of not ever.

You've never got it.

You've not ever got it.

This:

You've ever not got it.

does not work very well. Here is why:

Google provides 2 definitions for ever:

  1. at any time.
    • "nothing ever seemed to ruffle her" synonyms: at any time, at any point, on any occasion, under any circumstances, on any account;
  2. at all times; always.
    • "ever the man of action, he was impatient with intellectuals"

The first definition of ever is common, and in that case ever will come right before the verb it modifies. It could also come right before the verbal ruffle - e.g. "Nothing seemed to ever ruffle her". The other common option with ever in this meaning is to put it at the end of the sentence - e.g. "Nothing seemed to ruffle her ever." It will sound very strange if you stick not in the middle or put ever elsewhere in the sentence, for this meaning.

So your sentence "you've ever not got it" sounds like you are trying to use the 2nd definition of ever above. What Google is not telling you is that this use of ever is rather fancy, literary, or dramatic-ish. It's not used in typical conversation or writing unless you are trying to create those moods.

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