'ever heard' or 'ever hear'

j0mbolar

unread,

Mar 14, 2005, 8:56:06 AM3/14/05

to

'ever heard of this before?'

or

'ever hear of this before?'

Is the latter form correct and
the former incorrect?

I would think 'ever heard' is wrong
because 'ever' means 'at all times'.

Any clarification welcome.

Don Phillipson

unread,

Mar 14, 2005, 9:29:21 AM3/14/05

to

"j0mbolar" <j0mb...@engineer.com> wrote in message
news:1110808566....@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> 'ever heard of this before?'
>
> or
>
> 'ever hear of this before?'
>
> Is the latter form correct and
> the former incorrect?
>
> I would think 'ever heard' is wrong
> because 'ever' means 'at all times'.

Both are grammatically OK and in
current use. You may be wrong about
"ever," here more probably used as an
intensifier than to denote a range of
times or dates.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Michael Mendelsohn

unread,

Mar 14, 2005, 10:14:47 AM3/14/05

to

j0mbolar schrieb:

> 'ever heard of this before?'

Short for 'Have you ever heard of this before?'

> or
> 'ever hear of this before?'

Short for 'Did you ever hear of this before?'

> Is the latter form correct and
> the former incorrect?

To me, "before" indicates that a period starting sometime in the past
and extending up to now is referred to, which means that present perfect
(i.e. the first alternative) is correct.

> I would think 'ever heard' is wrong
> because 'ever' means 'at all times'.

It's not an event. It's not over.
Why would using simple past be grammatical?

Cheers
Michael

--
It's silly talking about how many years we will have to spend
in the jungles of Vietnam when we could pave the whole country
and put parking stripes on it and still be home by Christmas.
-- Ronald Reagan, October 10, 1965

meirman

unread,

Mar 14, 2005, 7:46:47 PM3/14/05

to

In alt.english.usage on 14 Mar 2005 05:56:06 -0800 "j0mbolar"
<j0mb...@engineer.com> posted:

>'ever heard of this before?'
>
>or
>
>'ever hear of this before?'
>
>Is the latter form correct and
>the former incorrect?

No. Neither is complete.

Have you ever heard of this before?

Did you ever hear of this before?

Both correct.

>
>I would think 'ever heard' is wrong
>because 'ever' means 'at all times'.

That's only one meaning.

Even in your second example (ever hear of this before), it doesn't
mean " at all times". It means "even once, between your birth and
now".

>Any clarification welcome.

"Have you a herd of cows?"

"Of course I've heard of cows."

"But did you herd the cows?"

"Of course I've heard of cows."

s/ meirman If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.

Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
now in Baltimore 20 years

QT

unread,

Mar 15, 2005, 5:19:21 AM3/15/05

to

meirman wrote:

>
> "Have you a herd of cows?"
>
> "Of course I've heard of cows."
>
> "But did you herd the cows?"

(SNIP)

May I suggest that, in this case, "herd" and "hear" sound totally
different to my (non-native) ear?
;-)

qt

c2...@webtv.net

unread,

Mar 16, 2005, 1:55:45 PM3/16/05

to

<Have you a herd of cows?"

<"Of course I've heard of cows."

<But did you herd the cows?"

<Of course I've heard of cows."

Is this an old Abbott and Costello routine?

meirman

unread,

Mar 17, 2005, 10:24:46 AM3/17/05

to

In alt.english.usage on Wed, 16 Mar 2005 13:55:45 -0500 c2...@webtv.net
posted:

Maybe. Especially if you think so. I can no longer remember where I
heard things. (Of course I've heard of things.)

meirman

unread,

Mar 17, 2005, 10:23:37 AM3/17/05

to

In alt.english.usage on 15 Mar 2005 10:19:21 GMT "QT"
<quicktransR...@fastmail.fm> posted:

But I didn't use hear, only heard and herd.

>;-)
>
>qt