STOP Using SOMETIMES, SELDOM & ALWAYS! (What EXPERT English Speakers Say Instead)

Eat Sleep Dreamers welcome back to another lesson with me Tom. Today I'm somewhere slightly

different, I'm in Hong Kong. I've been out here for about a month teaching English. It's

been an amazing time, I've loved it here and one of the great things about being out here

is that I get to meet the Eat Sleep Dreamers around the world. So I've met a few Eat Sleep

Dreamers in Hong Kong which has been amazing. But today I want to talk to you guys about

ten really useful expressions that you can use to talk about your every day lives. These

are ten phrases that talk about the frequency of doing things. So we know about sometimes

and never and always but these are ten expressions that you might not know that are used so often

by native English speakers and I really want to share them with you today. So if you are

ready, let's get going.

Ok, number one 'whenever I get the chance'. So if someone says to you

'How of ten do you see your Mum and Dad?' you say 'whenever I get the chance'. It just

means there's no specific amount, it's not always or it's not every week but it's when

you have the opportunity, that's when you'll do it. So whenever I get the chance. This

is great for someone who has a really busy schedule, let's say you are a parent and someone

says to you 'How often do you go running?' or 'How often do you workout?' you could say

'whenever I get the chance'. Like, you are super busy, work, life, baby. So if you have

the chance, when you have the chance, that's when you'll do it. So whenever I have the

chance. As we go through these phrases, think about how they link to your life. In what

situations might you use this phrase 'whenever I get the chance'. Alright, let's get to number

two. Somewhat similar to that one 'not as often as I'd like'. That's telling you that

you want to do this activity more often but you don't have the opportunity so not as often

as I'd like. So again someone says to you 'How often do you do yoga?' You want to do

it more than you do now so you would say 'Not as often as I'd like.' I want to do it more

but I don't have the opportunity. Not as often as I'd like. Two nice phrases here to mean

sometimes. We've got 'every now and then' and 'from time to time'. Both mean sometimes.

So 'how often do you go shopping?' 'Every now and then' or 'From time to time'. So sometimes.

These are nice alternatives to sometimes. Every now and then, from time to time. I love

this phrase 'not as often as I used to.' So here we are saying we don't do the activity

as much as in the past. In the past we did this activity a lot more frequently but now

not so much. Not as often as I used to. For example 'Do you still go to concerts?' 'Not

as often as I used to.' So in the past i used to go to concerts a lot and now not so much.

So it's a nice way to contrast your present activity and frequency of doing something

to the past. Not as often as I used to. Two nice phrases to talk about high-frequency

of doing something. All the time. So for example 'How often do you see Jack these days?' "I

see him all the time, he lives right next to me.' So high-frequency 'all the time'.

And if you want to show that something is a regular habit you could say, nearly every

and then the time so 'nearly every day' 'nearly every week' or 'nearly every month'. So you

are showing that it's pretty habitual, that you do it frequently and you do it consistently,

nearly every week. 'How often do you call your Grandma?' 'Nearly every week.' So consistently,

almost every week, not quite every week but nearly every week. Here's a great phrase for

if you want to show that your answer is a bit surprising, that maybe it's not the answer

that the other person expected you to say. So for example 'How often do you cook?' You

might say 'Not that often actually.' The actually there is showing surprise, it's showing that

the answer that you are saying is probably surprising to the person you are speaking

to. They may expect you to say quite often or all the time. So you are saying not that

often, so low-frequency and then the actually part is showing that you are understand that

it could be surprising information to the other person. So 'how often do you cook?'

'Not that often actually.' Here's one I've wanted to address for a long time. Now in

Hong Kong, when I hear students speaking they'll often use the word 'seldom' which means not

very often, yeah? Between sometimes and never it's in between there. Now seldom for me is

quite a formal word and I see it most in written English. I don't generally hear it spoken

so much. In spoken English I would say 'hardly ever'. So 'how often do you eat chocolate?'

'Hardly ever'. You are saying almost never, not quite but instead of saying seldom which,

as I say I think is quite a formal word mostly in written English, hardly ever is perfect

for spoken English. Sounding very natural, like a native English speaker. So hardly ever,

perfect phrase. And let's finish off with a fun one to say that you basically never

do this. You could say 'once in a blue moon'. Because blue moons are rare, they don't happen

very often so you might say 'once in a blue moon' to say that you basically never do it,

maybe once in a while. That's also another phrase 'once in a while'. So 'how often do

you go to a fancy restaurant?' Once in a blue moon.' So not very often at all. Alright guys,

ten super useful phrases to expand your vocabulary, bring some variety and ten ways to express

your ideas in slightly different ways. I hope you found that useful guys, if you did find

that useful guys give me a big thumbs up and let me know in the comments below. And if

you can make an example sentence with any of those phrases i'd love you to do that and

I'll pop down and I'll comment on your comment. Remember to check me out on Instagram guys,

I've got Instagram stories where i try and put regular English content and you get to

see behind the scenes of Eat Sleep Dream English. You will have followed my trip in Hong Kong

if you have been on Instagram stories and of course I'm on Facebook as well. I put videos

out every Tuesday and every Friday to help you to take your English to the next level

and achieve your life goals whatever they may be. Thank you so much for hanging out

with me guys, this is Tom, the Chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.