grammaticality - Is it wrong to use "never" for a specific time period?


I usually come late to the daily scrum meetings (but I do compensate, by working late!). For the last 6 working days, I have been coming on time, or even slightly earlier.


At lunch, I told my manager this



I have never been late for the daily scrum for this sprint (last 6 working days).



He told me that my usage is incorrect because, I cannot use never and restrict it to a time period. Never, apparently, is for eternity, e.g, I have never drunk Russian vodka.


What is the correct usage?



Answer



Never means not ever and the timespan of ever is from the beginning of time to the end of time.


In day to day use, the timespan of ever/never is the lifetime of the subject of the sentence. They are also used as intensifiers, for example:



I would never eat radish with fish.



This is an intensified version of



I wouldn't eat radish with fish.



The use of never here just means "in my current state of mind, this is not going to happen" or "I strongly advise against".


Another example is



I have loved Brad Pitt forever!



In this example it is unlikely that the person speaking has loved Brad Pitt since they were born, and the use of forever is just to mean that the infatuation is incredibly strong.


In conclusion,



I have never been late for the daily scrum for this sprint.



is an emphatic form of



I have not been late for the daily scrum for this sprint.



Have been is normally used when talking about a current action, so you can use it while the sprint is ongoing, and it's not wrong to use for when the sprint is over. However, it is more usual to use was to refer to a finished action:



I was never late for the daily scrums for the last sprint.



Also note the use of scrums, because you're talking about all the scrums.


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