(b) ever, hardly ever, never, rarely, scarcely ever, seldom

A.    Adverbs in both the above groups are normally placed:

1.     After the simple tenses of to be:

He is always in time for meals.

2.     Before the simple tenses of all other verbs:

They sometimes stay up all night.

3.     With compound tenses, they are placed after the first auxiliary, or, with interrogative verbs, after auxiliary + subject:

He can never understand.

You have often been told not to do that.

Have you ever ridden a camel?

Exceptions:

(a) used to and have to prefer the adverb in front of them:

You hardly ever have to remind him; he always remembers.

(b)  Frequency adverbs are often placed before auxiliaries when these are used alone, in additions to remarks or in answers to questions:

Can you park your car near the shops? ~ Yes, I usually can.

I know I should take exercise, but I never do. and when, in a compound verb, the auxiliary is stressed:

I never can remember.

She hardly ever / has met him.

Similarly when do is added for emphasis:

I always do arrive in time!

But emphasis can also be given by stressing the frequency adverb and leaving it in its usual position after the auxiliary:

You should always check your oil before starting.

B.    Adverbs in group (a) above can also be put at the beginning or end of a sentence or clause. Exceptions

always is rarely found at the beginning of a sentence/clause except with imperatives.

often, if put at the end, normally requires very or quite:

Often he walked.

He walked quite often.

C.     Adverbs in group (b) above, hardly ever, never, rarely etc. (but not ever alone), can also be put at the beginning of a sentence, but inversion of the following main verb then becomes necessary: Hardly/Scarcely ever did they manage to meet unobserved. (For hardly, barely, scarcely, see 44.)

hardly/scarcely ever, never, rarely and seldom are not used with negative verbs.

D.     never, ever

never is chiefly used with an affirmative verb, never with a negative. It normally means ‘at no time’:

He never saw her again.       I’ve never eaten snails.

They never eat meat, (habit)

I’ve never had a better flight. (For never + comparative, see 21 C.) never + affirmative can sometimes replace an ordinary negative:

I waited but he never turned up. (He didn’t turn up.)

never + interrogative can be used to express the speaker’s surprise at the non-performance of an action:

Has he never been to Japan?

I’m surprised, because his wife is Japanese.

ever means ‘at any time’ and is chiefly used in the interrogative:

Has he ever marched in a demonstration? ~ No, he never has.

ever can be used with a negative verb and, especially with compound

tenses, can often replace never + affirmative: I haven’t ever eaten snails.

This use of ever is less common with simple tenses.

ever + affirmative is possible in comparisons (see 21 C) and with

suppositions and expressions of doubt:

I don’t suppose he ever writes to his mother.