Can we use “never” in interrogative sentence?
In our English text book, there is a rule,
telling us that we cannot use the frequency adverb “never”
in interrogative sentence. Only “never.”
But I still find some sentences in test paper
with “never” in the interrogative sentence.
For instance,
Who never cleans the bedroom on weekends?
Does he never brush his teeth after dinner?
Hi Loriko,
‘Never’ is possible in questions. I can only imagine in your textbook there is a suggestion that you should say:
Who doesn’t ever clean the bedroom on weekends?
Doesn’t he ever brush his teeth after dinner?
They are all right but using ‘never’ has a greater force.
Alan
‘Who never cleans the bedroom on weekends?’ is fine but less ‘really’ interrogative then ‘Who doesn’t ever clean the bedroom on weekends?’ The neutral ‘ever’ should always be more ‘really’ interrogative than the negative ‘never’. Using ‘never’ could allude to blame.
Hi James,
I can’t ‘really’ accept your reference to ‘really’ interrogative. I still feel that both the use of ‘never’ and its position in the sentence rather than ‘not ever’ make the question more forceful.
Alan