Why 'ever' cannot be used in a statement?

[Tan Elaine]

Tom: Has your cat ever caught a mouse?
Jack: My cat has ever caught a mouse.

I have been told by a friend that I cannot answer the question with 'ever'. If it is true, why is it so?

Thanks.

 

[5jj]

Its meaning may be paraphrased as 'at any time'. This is appropriate for interrogative and negative utterances, but not for affirmative ones.

 

[bhaisahab]

There is an ancient use of "ever" to mean "always". In theory you could say "My cat has ever caught mice", but this use is extremely uncommon.

 

[BobK]

There is an ancient use of "ever" to mean "always". In theory you could say "My cat has ever caught mice", but this use is extremely uncommon.

:up: This sort of 'ever' was used in very formal letter writing. But nowadays nobody would end a letter 'Ever your humble and obedient servant'. ;-)

It's used even now to add persistence to an adjective; the most common is 'ever ready' (which was adopted as a trade mark by a maker of batteries) but it's used to make other adjectives - particularly in compliments: 'My heartfelt thanks to the ever-helpful Mrs B...'

b