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#2 (permalink) Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:46 am Forever/always/ever |
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. 'Forever' means for an infinite length of time. 'Always' means at all times. 'Ever' is a question word (and is also used in negative sentences); it has no time value. . _________________ Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's |
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Mister Micawber Language Coach

Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 7432 Location: Yokohama, Japan
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#3 (permalink) Sat Dec 20, 2008 15:10 pm Forever/always/ever |
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"I will always love you" "I will forever love you" Is there any difference between the two?
"An ever-present danger". He is ever ready to find fault. "He is ever ready to find fault". Could "ever" have an "always/forever" meaning in these examples?
"An everlasting impression that will endure forever" Does "ever" get the "always/forever" meaning when used as a compound adjective?
I looked up these three words in an on-line dictionary. "Always" and "forever" share pretty much the same meaning, they are both adverbs, etc. How could one recognize a method to distingu¡shly used them properly in context? Last but not least comes "ever" which intrigues me the most for the reason stated above.
Thanks once again for your kidness.
God bless you. Cisco. _________________ Please, always correct me if I have made any kind of mistakes in my posts. |
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Cisco795 I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 118 Location: Mèxico
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#4 (permalink) Sat Dec 20, 2008 22:49 pm Forever/always/ever |
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I think that the meaning of forever and always are clear... We use forever to say something will never end in future, but we can't use forever in past like we use always : He always used to wash the dishes for her... or He always wanted to drive in Formula 1. Now...forever contains ever... we can say: for ever and ever..... so forever is for ever, am I right? We are actually building words with ever.. like: forever, eversince, whatever, whoever, whenever, however..... |
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Miliica I'm new here and I like it ;-)

Joined: 20 Dec 2008 Posts: 25 Location: Serbia, Europe
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#5 (permalink) Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:22 am Forever/always/ever |
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. He was forever forgetting my birthday; that's why I divorced him.
Yes, forever was originally for ever (but there is no 'eversince'); however, ever is more akin to always in meaning.
"I will always love you"-- until the end of time "I will forever love you"-- until the end of time Is there any difference between the two?-- Here I think the intent is the same.
"An ever-present danger". He is ever ready to find fault. "He is ever ready to find fault". Could "ever" have an "always/forever" meaning in these examples?-- Yes, it does
"An everlasting impression that will endure forever" Does "ever" get the "always/forever" meaning when used as a compound adjective?-- Here it does, at least.
The various meanings of all these words overlap (as you found, Cisco), and my first post was a bit simplistic. Where the meanings are the same, they can mostly be used synonymously; what you need to watch for is when different meanings are employed.
Always: (1) at all times, all the time and on every occasion; (2) forever, throughout all time; (3) seemingly without interruption, often and repeatedly.
Forever: (1) for a very long or seemingly endless time; (2) seemingly without interruption; often and repeatedly; (3) for a limitless time.
Ever: (1) at any time; (2) at all times; all the time and on every occasion; (3) (intensifier for adjectives) very.
How could one recognize a method to distingu¡sh used them properly in context?-- Exactly: the context should bear clues to the intended meaning. . _________________ Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's |
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Mister Micawber Language Coach

Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 7432 Location: Yokohama, Japan
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#6 (permalink) Sun Dec 21, 2008 23:16 pm Forever/always/ever |
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Wow, awesome. Thanks a million! Now, I just need to sit down for a couple of weeks and master the differenciations. :0)
God bless you Mister Micawer. Merry Christmas. Cisco. _________________ Please, always correct me if I have made any kind of mistakes in my posts. |
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Cisco795 I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 118 Location: Mèxico
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