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  • Welcome to Ask an English Teacher. I'm Amy, ask me anything.

  • Today I have a great question.

  • Yes, but you're

  • going to want to stick around for the long answer because this is a common mistake

  • I hear a lot of students make. First, the word ever means at any time. For example,

  • have you ever broken a bone? At any time in your life have you, have you broken a

  • bone? Have you ever broken a bone? I in fact broke my arm rollerskating when I

  • was seven years old. Now let's look at how we can use ever in affirmative

  • statements. The first way is that we can use ever after superlatives like most,

  • best, worst, highest, most intelligent, most beautiful, etc. So I'll give you some examples.

  • This is the best chocolate cake I have ever had. This is the worst YouTube

  • channel ever. She is the most intelligent woman I have ever met. The second way we

  • can use the word ever in affirmative sentence is the phrase ever since.

  • For example, ever since she started taking English lessons

  • she speaks more confidently. Or, I got a job after college and I've been working

  • ever since.

  • The third way that we can use the word ever in affirmative statements is after

  • restrictive adjectives like only or first, and I'll give you a couple of

  • examples. The first international flight I ever took was to Mexico. The only time

  • I ever tried baking bread I burned it. Does this explanation help? Let me know

  • in the comments if you need any clarification or if you have a different

  • question and I will try to answer in the future in my next video.

  • But before we end this video today, let's go back to our first example. We used

  • ever in a question. Have you ever broken a bone?

  • I mentioned that I broke my arm when I was 7 years old.

  • Notice that I didn't say I ever broke my arm when I was 7 years old, that would be

  • incorrect and it's a super common mistake I hear

  • students make every day. To reply to a have you ever questioned if your, if

  • your reply is affirmative, you don't need to say ever, in fact don't say ever it

  • would be wrong to say it that way. Just say, yeah I broke my arm when I was 7

  • years old or yes I have broken a bone. Thanks for your question, see you next

  • time! Bye!

Welcome to Ask an English Teacher. I'm Amy, ask me anything.

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