"neither in the past nor in the future"

[shiqangpan]

A guy is talking about movies: "LEFT BEHIND is a really bad movie. I never watched in its entirety."

Does he mean that, he has simply seen a number of clips but he never finished it and he won't finish that movie.

Could "never in its entirety" convey the idea of "neither in the past nor in the future" in this particular context?

[patron]

The expression “in its entirety’ means not completely.

The adverb “never” means “not ever”= not at all in your complete lifetime ‘

Therefore, if you say : I never watched it in its entirety, This seems to imply that you have watched the movie many times during your lifetime, but have never completely watched the movie from beginning to end (= in its entirety = completely).during the times when you did watch it

However, if we change the sentence = I didn’t watch it in its entirety. This more clearly shows that the guy has only just watched the movie, but that he didn’t watch all of it completely.

[shiqangpan]

Thank you. Your explanation is quite clear and helpful. It seems that neither of them makes an implication to the future, right?

The expression “in its entirety’ means not completely.

The adverb “never” means “not ever”= not at all in your complete lifetime ‘

Therefore, if you say : I never watched it in its entirety, This seems to imply that you have watched the movie many times during your lifetime, but have never completely watched the movie from beginning to end (= in its entirety = completely).during the times when you did watch it

However, if we change the sentence = I didn’t watch it in its entirety. This more clearly shows that the guy has only just watched the movie, but that he didn’t watch all of it completely.

[patron]

"In its entirety" refers to the act of completing something.(reading watching, or performing a task.)

e.g I didn't watch the film in its entirety . In this example you are stating a fact = you didn't watch the whole film (the watching took place in the past, but it wasn't completed).

This expression( in its entirety) is actually quite formal, and I don't hear people using it very much these days.

I suppose you could use it to talk about it in reference to the future.

e.g I will go to watch the new film, but I don't have time to watch it in its entirety. This example refers to your intention to watch a film in the future but that there is a probability/chance that you wont be able to watch the whole film.

When you use the phrase "in its entirety" you are just simply stating a fact = something being watched/read/performed by you has not been completed or may not be completed in the future.

[Shuaib]

But if you are to think of the future in this case, you also have to look at the word never which is also used in the sentence.
In that regard, I suppose the speaker is talking about the past.

[patron]

The use of never gives the reader the understanding that the guy had watched it in the past , but only watched part of the movie (not to completion).

If he had just recently watched the movie then it would be better to use the verb "didn't" together with "in its entirety "
This means he had just watched the film and didn't complete his watching. (he probably walked out to get a beer half way through the film)

Look at the examples below.(both refer to the past and include up to the time of speaking/writing).

1. If you say: I have never watched XY before.
Here you are saying that during your whole life up to now you have not ever seen the movie XY.

If you say: I have never watched XY in its entirety .

Here you are saying that you have watched it in the past up to now,BUT you have not ever watched it in its entirety = not watched the movie XY from beginning to end = not completely.

[Shuaib]

So based in your second paragraph, are you preferring "didn't" to "never"?
Let's forget about the word in its "entirety".
Are both words (didn't, never) not negatives and referring to the past?.

[patron]

I am not sure what it is that you are confused about.

If you can ask me some specific questions ,perhaps with examples, then I am more than happy to help you (:

Both didn't and never have a negative meaning. However "never" is an adverb of frequency and therefore applies to a duration of time ,and didn't is a helping verb and refers, in this context, to the single action of not watching a movie completely.

[shiqangpan]

Thanks for your excellent explanation. That’s very kind of you.

Consider the sentence, "I have never watched XY in its entirety", I understand it means the watching took place in the past, but wasn't completed. Does it imply that I have watched the movie many times?

[patron]

Consider the sentence, "I have never watched XY in its entirety", I understand it means the watching took place in the past, but wasn't completed. Does it imply that I have watched the movie many times?

Yes, I think you are correct (although I am not sure it means many times, but certainly more that once).

The sentence uses a negative form of the present perfect = has +never +watched.

The present perfect is often used to refer to repeated actions in the past which continue to the present.

e.g He has been to the doctor three times this week.

In your sentence the repeated action = watching a movies, but not watching all of it (only parts each time)

[ghellman]

One may disambiguate problems of when and how often, by considering the evolutions specified by the various loops provided by programming languages (DO-WHILE, WHILE-DO, FOR EACH,. . .)

Also useful is the concepts of intervals
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_(mathematics)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infimum_and_supremum

...which allow one to partition the time-axis and express each of the details of the relationship between any two points