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The adverb 'ever' usually comes in mid-position, that is before the verb, after the auxiliary – if there is one – and after the first auxiliary if there are more than one. (Practical English Usage, fully revised fourth edition, Oxford University Press, first published in 2016, pages 199-200)

Have you ever criticised anyone?

Have you ever been criticised by anyone?

Why then does it not keep the same position in the perfect gerund?

He denied ever having criticised anyone.

He denied ever having been criticised by anyone.

user58319
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    Both "He denied ever having criticised anyone" and "He denied having ever criticised anyone" sound OK to me (but feel free to check in a corpus). Is there a reason you think one of them is wrong, and if so which one? – Stuart F Oct 10 '23 at 11:04
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    Here's another Why? question about a syntactic rule. The answer is always "Nobody knows". – John Lawler Oct 10 '23 at 17:08
  • @JohnLawler I like the "Dad" answer: "Because". – Barmar Oct 11 '23 at 20:34

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This has nothing to do with gerunds, but rather with the constructions ever is in.

The most important thing to note about ever is that it's a Negative Polarity Item (like anyone). NPIs have their own grammar rules; try the last two example sentences with reported instead of denied to see:

  • *He reported ever having criticised anyone
  • *He reported ever having been criticised by anyone

That's because deny is a negative trigger and report isn't. The first two examples are questions, which are also negative triggers. Notice, however, that a direct answer to either one is ungrammatical:

  • *Yes, I have ever criticised anyone
  • *Yes, I have ever been criticised by anyone

because statements are not negative triggers.

As for position, the questions are simple sentences, with ever occurring according to the rule. But the second examples are complex sentences, and the ever is in the subordinate clause, where it doesn't follow the same placement rules.

John Lawler
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Gerunds and infinitives are non-finite verb forms.

With them, the adverbs which usually come in mid-postion have to come before the auxiliary or auxiliaries if there are any.

user58319
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  • That is what I meant by 'why': is there some kind of rule which can justify a change of position in the case of gerunds. The same would apply to an adverb used with an infinitive: to never have done something (American English) never to have done something (British English), with the adverb coming before the auxiliary in both cases. 'Because' answers are useless. – user58319 Oct 18 '23 at 12:55