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I want to know if I used the word ever correctly in the following sentence. I wanted it to mean that the students waited tables at least once during their first semesters of studies.
By the way, if there is any mistake in this post, correct it, please.
Most university students have ever waited tables to earn some money during their firsts study semesters.
Thanks in advance.
Like "any" and its compounds ("anybody", "anywhere" etc), "ever" is only used in that sense in negative polarity constructions:
Negatives:
I haven't ever waited at table. (In this context it often merges with the "not", getting replaced by "never")
Questions:
Have you ever waited at table?
With modifiers such as "only", "hardly", "few" (though these do not at first sight appear to be negative grammatically, they regularly select negative polarity items):
I have only ever waited at table.
I have hardly ever waited at table.
Few of us have ever waited at table.
If you ever wait at table, ...
It is not used in positive affirmative sentences:
*I have ever waited at table. (the * means ungrammatical)
It's an odd usage of the word "ever", though I'm not sure if it breaks any grammar rules or not. The sentence would have your intended meaning if you removed "ever" and would be a natural phrasing for a native English speaker.
The verb tense in "have waited" already implies what I think you wanted "ever" to indicate, that the students waited tables at any point during the first semesters of study.
The only error I see is that "firsts" should be "first".
