So I was reading something someone had written and I came across:
He < does something> as quickly as he never had in < time period>
It just seemed a bit odd to me and I didn't encounter such an expression on the internet upon research so is it correct?
With {do something} as quickly as, both comparands must have a degree of quickness. Hence, "never had [done something]" is ungrammatical as complement there since a non-existent action cannot have a degree of quickness.
He ate lunch as quickly as he ever had [eaten lunch].
He ate lunch as quickly as he never had [eaten lunch]. ungrammatical
But you could say:
He had only three minutes before the train left the station. It was a four-hour trip and the train had no cafe car. Since he hadn't eaten in two days, be ran over to the golden arches counter, bought a burger, and scarfed it down. He had never eaten a burger as quickly as he ate that one.
The sentence could also say, elliptically: He had never eaten a burger as quickly.
never is negating the asserted comparison, not referencing an eating action that never happened.
He had never {eaten a burger as quickly as he ate that one}.
Never had he {eaten a burger as quickly as he ate that one}.
its grammatically incorrect. The problem lies in the double negative.
"Never" is a negative word. "Had" is used in the past perfect tense, which implies something that happened before another event.
When you combine "never" and "had" in this way, it creates a double negative, which is generally considered grammatically incorrect in English.
Here are a few ways to correct the phrase:
"As quickly as he had ever" - This emphasizes the speed of the action compared to his previous experiences.
"As quickly as he ever had" - This emphasizes the speed of the action compared to his previous experiences.
“Faster than he ever had" - This focuses on the speed of the action itself.
