never should vs should never

[huxley]

i'm not sure if there's a difference that's why i'm asking the experts. here's my phrase.

1." I never should've allowed you to leave this place when I had the chance."

compared to

2." I should've never allowed you to leave this place when I had the chance."

which one is correct?

[Yankee]

Hi Huxley

I consider both sentences to be incorrect with "when I had the chance" on the end.
(I think I've mentioned this before.)

The following sentences would be OK, for example:

I should have [done XXX] when I had the chance.
-OR-
I should have let you [do XXX] when I had the chance.
-OR- (similar in meaning to your sentence)
I should have forbidden you to [do XXX] when I had the chance.

Amy

[Yankee]

As regards the placement of the word never, both ways are acceptable. (Just make sure you get rid of the end of the sentence!)

[Alan]

Hi,

I'm confused! Why, Amy, do you not like the end: when I had the chance?

A
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[Yankee]

Hi Alan

I didn't say I don't like the expression "when I had the chance". I disagree with the usage in combination with the idea of "never allow something to happen" in the original post.

"When I had the chance" means "when I had the chance to [do what is stated in the first part of the sentence]". Thus the sentence in the original post can be extended to:
"I never should've allowed you to leave this place when I had the chance to never allow/never to allow you to leave this place." I find this to be incredibly awkward at best.

The expression "when I had the chance" also tends to be used with affirmatives. For example, "I should have kept you from leaving when I had the chance."

Surely you aren't suggesting that you have no misgivings whatsoever about the usage of "when I had the chance" in the original post?

Amy

[edwin]

hi,
"I should have [done XXX] when I had the chance" unequal to " I should've never allowed you to leave this place when I had the chance"?

edwin
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[Alan]

The problems with these sentences: