'I’ve never known how to do algebra'
A question from Hope in Hong Kong:
I want to know what the differences between ‘I never knew it’ and ‘I’ve never known it’ are.
Trudi Faulkner-Petrova answers
Click below to hear the answer:
Hey Hope, how are you? Thanks for asking your question.
Well, if you say ‘he never knew it’, it may be assumed that ‘he’ is dead now and he will never know ‘it’.
So let’s now look at ‘I never knew’. Well, it emphasises the thing you were ignorant of before, the topic, subject or information that you didn’t know. Listen to this example:
-Annabel’s got a 20 year daughter.
-Oh, I never knew!
(This answer emphasises Annabel’s daughter is new knowledge to you.)
So why is ‘I’ve never known’ different? Well, ‘I’ve never known’ emphasises you, stressing that you as a person are ignorant of something.
I’ve never known how to do algebra so I can’t help you. (This stresses I don’t know.)
I’ve never known exactly why my parents got divorced. (Again, this stresses I don’t but of course they do.)
Perhaps I should point out that it is more usual for people to use the present simple tense to describe a state, in both the examples I just gave, which would sound like this:
I don’t know how to do algebra.
I don’t know exactly why my parents got divorced.
Talking about tenses, let’s look at using the present perfect tense with ‘never’. Doing that emphasises that we are talking about the whole period of time, or our whole life up till the present, just like this:
I’ve never had any problems with my teeth.
I’ve never known how to do origami.
I’ve never understood why you moved to Mongolia.
And if you use the past simple with ‘never’, it means you are talking about a completed time period in the past. Here’s an example:
I never had a mobile phone or a computer phone when I was a teenager.
I never knew how to ride a bike till I was 20!
So I wonder if you know the difference now between 'I never knew’ and ‘I’ve never known’? If I asked you this question, you should reply: Well, I never knew the difference between these phrases until today!
About Trudi Faulkner-Petrova
Trudi Faulkner-Petrova has a BA (Hons) in English, Bsc. in Psychology and Cert.TESOL. She has been teaching EFL, EAP and Business English in international schools, businesses and universities in Beijing over the last 10 years. Currently, she is a freelance tutor for ESOL, English Literature, SAT/TOEFL preparation and also works for the British Council as an IELTS and BULATS examiner. She is in the final year of studies for an Msc. in Psychology.
