1. A lot has happened ever since we graduated.
2. Steele has not visited Arizona ever since he sold his house last October.
3. Darla's been really happy ever since she started work.
Which of the above sentences is acceptable?
2. Steele has not visited Arizona ever since he sold his house last October.
3. Darla's been really happy ever since she started work.
Which of the above sentences is acceptable?
1 2
Comments
1. A lot has happened ever since we graduated.
2. Steele has not visited Arizona ever since he sold his house last October.
3. Darla's been really happy ever since she started work.
Which of the above sentences is acceptable? All 3 are OK.
However, there has to be some kind of connection in meaning between the two parts of the sentence. #1 does not show this connection. I would interpret it as
A lot has happened to us ever since we graduated.
Best wishes, Clive
I think some action or state which is continuously on-going needs to be expressed if you want to use ever.
CJ
Has it to be changed to 'Darla's been really happy ever since she started working' as suggested by Goodman?
4. Darla's been really happy since she started work.
I don't know whether sentence #3 is right or wrong.
But sentence # 4 is correct because it is quoted from Longman Advanced American Dictionary.
But with 'ever' in the sentence, I like 'started working' even better.
Like CJ, I do not like the first sentence with 'ever' in it. That sentence would be better with only the word 'since'. To me, "a lot has happened" is too general and can include too many different things. It doesn't have any kind of continuous/constant sense of a single activity.
161,000 for "lot has happened since"
110 for "lot has happened ever since"