Have ever seen or will ever see

Question

Please look at the following

This is the best performance I have ever seen. This means I have never seen a performance which was better than this, so this is the best. Am I right?

Similarly, when we say

This is the best performance I ever saw. I think this means the same as above. Am I right? If not, then please tell me what the difference is

But, when we say

This is the best performance I will ever see. This sentence confuses me really.I don't understand what this means. Can anyone please explain to me what it means?

Thank you.

Answer 1

I prefer

This is the best performance I have ever seen.

over

This is the best performance I ever saw.

They mean the same thing (namely, that the person saying it witnessed the best performance thus far in their life) unless context implies otherwise.

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This is the best performance I will ever see.

The sentence means they will never see a better performance; it's impossible for another performance taking place in the future to be better than this one.

Answer 2

This is the best performance I have ever seen.

Uses a verb tense have seen which indicates it is the best performance in the past or present.

This is the best performance I ever saw.

Uses a verb tense saw which indicates it is the best performance in the past, but the performance is over. This means that the better wording (better agreement in time) would be

This was the best performance I ever saw.

Because now the verb tenses are similar. The performance was is in the past, and the sight of it saw was in the past. Both verbs match (agree) about the time of the performance.

This is the best performance I will ever see.

Is a person stating something about the future. They believe they will never see a better performance. In their mind, at this time, it is not possible for a performance to be better.