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The buried treasure has never been found.

If I change this sentence into active,

1.Nobody has ever found the buried treasure.

2.Nobody has found the buried treasure.

Should I change "never" into "ever" for the given sentence?

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    There is no passive voice in your examples. "The buried treasure has never been found by anybody" is in the passive voice. It is difficult to understand what you are asking. Can you explain your question more clearly?
    – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica
    Jun 20, 2017 at 16:04
  • Could you explain what "Nobody has never found the buried treasure." means to you? If "the buried treasure" was never found, it wouldn't matter whether somebody or nobody was involved.
    – user3169
    Jun 20, 2017 at 16:21
  • @user3169 I think OP means no one was (has been) able to find the buried treasure.
    – Cardinal
    Jun 20, 2017 at 16:54
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    @P.E.Dant If a question is conceptually confused, then a good answer will address that. Conceptual confusion does not disqualify a question. ELL exists largely to help people get unconfused. This question is clear: it asks if the sentence labeled "1." should have "never" in place of "ever". Please be understanding with the people who ask questions here. They are asking because they don't already have mastery of English or of the terminologies for describing it.
    – Ben Kovitz
    Jun 20, 2017 at 18:17
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    @BenKovitz I'm not some big meanie. It isn't clear at all what the question addresses. "If I change this sentence into passive," then what? Which sentence? What passive? An earnest request for clarification garnered no response. The answer addresses "double negative", and it is a worthwhile guess, but it's not clear that this is the gist of the question. How will this Q&A add value to the database of questions and answers? We also benefit questioners, now and in the future, by prompting them to clarify.
    – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica
    Jun 20, 2017 at 19:00

2 Answers 2

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"Nobody has never found the buried treasure. " isn't correct for having a double negative problem. And there are no passive versions in your examples.

You are correct in saying :

Nobody has ever found the buried treasure. It means "nobody has found the buried treasure at any time / nobody has been able to find the buried treasure as yet.

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The buried treasure has never been found.

This is past perfect passive voice form of find.

Optimally, you would know who was trying to do the finding, in order to gracefully convert this to active voice and keep never,

I have never found the buried treasure.

but if you don't know who this is,

Nobody / no one has ever found the buried treasure.

works and is correct.

Things like the below are not good English.

No one has never found the buried treasure.

Not anyone has never found the buried treasure.

Anyone has never found the buried treasure.

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