Expression: 'As the addict's tolerance increases, he ...'

[Tom]

Hi

Could you please explain the following sentence to me? I do not understand it, especially the use of ever. I think it should be even.

1- 'As the addict's tolerance increases, he requires ever larger doses of drugs'

Tom

[Conchita]

'Ever' here is used for emphasis, to stress the importance of the adjective 'larger'.

[Conchita]

I'm really not so sure about my answer, now. I rather think the word 'ever' was used not so much for emphasis as in the sense of 'always': he requires larger doses all the time.

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

The words 'ever larger' have the sense of 'increasingly large' or 'larger and larger'.

The word 'ever' tells you that the size of the dose is growing.

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Conchita]

Exactly, Amy! Thanks for clearing our doubts.

[Tom]

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

Definition #3 from Dictionary.com fits here:
Drug
3. a habit-forming medicinal or illicit substance, esp. a narcotic.

And for 'tolerance', definition #5a:
5. Medicine/Medical, Immunology
a. the power of enduring or resisting the action of a drug, poison, etc.: a tolerance to antibiotics.

So, as the addict builds up resistance to the effects of a drug, he/she needs larger and larger amounts of the drug to achieve the same effect.

Amy
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

Of course a drug doesn't always suggest something that becomes addictive,

A
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English as a Second Language
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