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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Use of have never been

Hi,

i would like to know proper usage of have never been. for example.

multi-party election have never been more than an attempt to show democracys power.

what does the above sentence tells
  

Top answer

"... has/have never been X" means that X isn't true now and wasn't true at any time in the past. For example: "I have never been married" means that I am not married now and I wasn't married at any time in the past.

— Mr Wordy

  • "...
  • has/have never been X" means that X isn't true now and wasn't true at any time in the past.
  • For example: "I have never been married" means that I am not married now and I wasn't married at any time in the past.
  • "multi-party elections have never been more than an attempt to show democracy's power" means that such elections are not now, and were not at any time in the past, anything more than at attempt to show democracy's power.
  • In the sentence about elections, I'm not sure if you're asking only about "never have been" or if you want an explanation of the rest of the sentence too.
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1 Answers
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"... has/have never been X" means that X isn't true now and wasn't true at any time in the past. For example:

"I have never been married" means that I am not married now and I wasn't married at any time in the past.

"multi-party elections have never been more than an attempt to show democracy's power" means that such elections are not now, and were not at any time in the past, a
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