ALWAYS, ALREADY, EVER

ALWAYS, ALREADY, EVER

If something always happens, it happens regularly or on all possible occasions; if something is always the case, it is true at all times.

1. I would always ask for the radio to be turned down.
2. He’s always been an active person.
3. No matter what she did, she would always be forgiven.
4. A man always remembers his first love.

If something has already happened, it has happened before now. By using already, you are often suggesting that it is surprising that it has happened, or that you expected it to happen later.

5. Hasn’t the government in fact already shown some readiness to compromise?
6. He had already eaten more than he wanted.

You use ever, especially in negative sentences, questions, and ‘if’-clauses and with superlatives, to talk about any time in the past, present, or future.

7. The weeks dragged on, but no one ever came.
8. Will I ever see France?
9. We could have got ourselves into a precarious situation if we had ever launched ourselves on the climb.
10. That’s the nicest thing anybody’s ever said to me.