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ESL Forums | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms

Reported speech: "He said he loved her" | Preposition usage: 'For whom are you waiting?' vs 'To whom are you waiting?'

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#16 (permalink) Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:00 am never met this syntax before...

Mister Micawber wrote:

... akin to 'I swan!'

Laughing

Hi Alex
Yes, my 'ever' was just playing with MM's 'never'. And, of course, 'Did you ever!' was the expression used in the lyrics Alan posted.

'Did you ever!' is another example of an exclamation that uses 'ever' the way MM and I described. It can be used to affirm that something happened, emphasizing that it happened in a big way.
For example:

A: Did I make a mistake?
B: Did you ever! The boss is going to fire you for it!

A: It rained last week.
B: Did it ever! By Thursday people were boating down my street!

A: Did he win much money?
B: Did he ever! He hit the jackpot -- a million dollars!

Look at the definitions of the word 'ever' here.

By the way, I'd never actually heard the expression "I swan" before, but it certainly was appropriate to the whole context of this thread. Laughing

Laughing

Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 8265
Location: USA

#17 (permalink) Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:15 am never met this syntax before...

Hi, Amy and MM! What a nice clause to remember I actually heard of it once, particulary when I was reading The Tommyknockers by Stephen King, but then I thought it meant the opposite.

Lost_Soul
I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 1861
Location: South Park, Colorado, USA

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Reported speech: "He said he loved her" | Preposition usage: 'For whom are you waiting?' vs 'To whom are you waiting?'

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