Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Koro]

When I was reading Bob Greene's Cheeseburgers, I came across the follwoing expression:

She taught him the alphabet. She taught him how to print letters. She taught him the first words other than his own name that he had ever known how to read and write.

I think the underlined part above, that-clause, modifies 'the first words'. If so, I wonder why 'ever' instead of 'never' or 'had not known' is used and why she taught him the words which he already knew how to read and write. Or does the underlined part modify 'his own name'? In that case, it makes sense grammatically to me becuase he already knew how to read and write his own name at the earlier stage. I'm not sure which the underlined part modifies. I'd really appreciate it if you could teach me how to interpret this and how I should explain this grammatically. Thanks in advance.
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Koro

[2006]

The "first words" sentence is not a good one and is not worthy of analysis. You can say, 'She taught him the first words, other than his own name, that he learned to read and write.'