Using Never: I never eat breakfast. vs I never ate breakfast.

[Jen]

Hi

Which is correct ? why?

I never eat breakfast.

I never ate breakfast.

I never eat breakfast this morning.

I never ate breakfast this morning.

[Ralf]

Hi Jen,

And welcome to english-test!

I never eat breakfast. I always have an early lunch break. - OK

I never ate breakfast (this morning) - you could say this after noon.

I've never eaten breakfast this morning - you could say this before noon.

I haven't had (any/my) breakfast yet - is what you should say.

I never ate breakfast this morning - colloquially, you'd hear people say it.

Cheers,

Ralf
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[Yankee]

[MrPedantic]

I think I would say:

1. I never eat breakfast in the morning.
— expresses a habit.

2. I haven't had any breakfast this morning.
— fine before noon.

3. I didn't have any breakfast this morning.
— fine all day; as Amy says, breakfast is now off the menu.

4. I never had any breakfast this morning.
— emphatic version of #3. You might say it to justify a very large lunch, for instance.

MrP

[Ralf]

[MrPedantic]

Ní thuigim.

Abair go mall é, ma's é do thoil é.

[Ralf]

[Yankee]

Hi Ralf

So, are you saying that "I've never eaten breakfast this morning" would be a widely used sort of construction in Ireland? Is it considered to be "standard" Irish-English?

As you probably gathered from my last post, that sentence only sounds very wrong to me.
.

[Ralf]

Hi Amy,

Since there is no standard Irish English, I'll have to admit to having committed a usage blunder. I've never been meaning to be doing that type of thing, though.
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