Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. cover image

Unlocking the mystery of 'ever words' and Latin abbreviations. Juna.

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers.

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The Importance of the Ever Suffix in English

Dictionary.com and the online American Heritage Dictionary don't even list it, although it is there in three other dictionaries I checked. Why ever seems to be more common in books categorized as British English. There's an obsolete nay word that got tacked on to give the word not ever a negative meaning. And perhaps less obviously, never comes from that use of adverb Never - which has been replaced by forever.

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