need help from native speakers

[Unregistered]

Hi teachers,

Thanks for your help with the differecne between 'since' and 'ever since'.

1.He's been unhappy since his girlfriend left him.

2.He's been unhappy ever since his girlfriend left him.

"Since" here means "from a particular time in the past until now."
Is the difference between them that it doesn't mean 'all the time' without adding 'ever' here and he's not been unhappy all the time from then until now as in sentence #1?
Thanks.

[Searching for language]

They both mean the same.

[David L.]

This is an instance where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts*.

As you note, 'since' refers to "from a particular time in the past until now".
With the addition of 'ever'
(1) it emphasizes the start of that period, that the change definitely came at the point in time when 'the girlfriend left him';
AND
(2) adds the sense of 'throughout' = 'all the way through, from beginning to (NOW)'

Can you sense the difference here:
'in the period..."
compare
'throughout the period...' where there is the sense that (as in your sentence) the 'unhappy'-ness pervades every day of that period.

Since you came to this school...
compare
Ever since you came to this school, there's been nothing but trouble.

*synergy