Usually/Seldom
Forum > English only || BottomMessage from sabrina1011 posted on 29-06-2013 at 17:37:17 (D | E | F)
Hello,
Could you help me please?
I have problems with frequency adverbs.
Do you usually go to gym on the weekend?
No, I usually don’t.
OR
No, I seldom.
Which answer is correct or both?
Is the meaning the same or different?
Thank you!
Sabrina
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Edited by lucile83 on 29-06-2013 18:27
Re: Usually/Seldom from mililia19, posted on 29-06-2013 at 18:30:36 (D | E)
Hello,
usually and seldom do not have the same meaning.
Usually is
Seldom has the meaning of rarely.
I hope that it is clear enough
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Edited by lucile83 on 29-06-2013 19:09
Re: Usually/Seldom from lucile83, posted on 29-06-2013 at 22:37:49 (D | E)
Hello,
Your sentences are awkward; you should write them, for instance:
Do you usually go to the gym at the weekend? (on the weekend )
No, I don’t. I seldom go there.
I usually go to the cinema instead.
Re: Usually/Seldom from violet91, posted on 30-06-2013 at 13:12:48 (D | E)
Hello Sabrina and have a lovely Sunday .
That is true your sentences ' sound ' rather strange and are obviously translated directly from French .
Everything has been explained by Lucile .
I'll just add :
You do Gym . ( as a general statement ; at school , for instance , as you do English , Maths, Physical Training ( P.T ) ...and so on ...
Do you usually go to the Gym at weekends ( plural) and even more British at the weekend ? ( on the weekend(s) , indeed)
As for what we call ' yes, no questions ' and short answers :
With a question beginning with 'do ' , you will use 'do' ( auxiliary , too )in the short answer : just logical grammar.
- Yes I usually do .
- I seldom do . ( no real need of ' No ', alone ) or you make 'a full answer ' = Yes, no short answer + , addition of the complete information .
That is to say :
-Do you usually go to the Gym at the weekend ?
- No , I don't , I seldom do . ( or : - I seldom go there )
Re: Usually/Seldom from notrepere, posted on 01-07-2013 at 00:32:42 (D | E)
Hello
There is no hyphen in the word 'weekend' in English only in French.
Re: Usually/Seldom from lucile83, posted on 01-07-2013 at 08:30:05 (D | E)
Hello np,
There's no more hyphen in French either...It was decided in 1990 by the Académie française.
Re: Usually/Seldom from violet91, posted on 01-07-2013 at 11:30:28 (D | E)
Hi ,' hyphenists'
Ow! Ow! Ow ! Ouch ! Ouch! Ouch !
Thank you for your purism and correctness. I have suppressed the 'guilty' hyphen , although checking it up on different French and English dictionaries , I still found two spellings : with or without a hyphen for French, I mean . Anyway, I am grateful to you both , one for signalling promptly , and Lucile for searching when the ' Académie française ' agreed in 1990 in making the spelling of week end easier . ( which I myself find more complicated / hyphens or no hyphens ARE problems from one language to the other ).
Funny, you know, my device still corrects me automatically with ' week-end ' !!!! I suppose 'once seen(typed ) , never forgotten ' ! I'll have to watch out !...weekend, weekend, weekend et week end , week end , week end
Is that right ?
Re: Usually/Seldom from lucile83, posted on 01-07-2013 at 12:13:09 (D | E)
no...if you write weekend either in English or in French it will be right anyway.
Why do you want things to be more complicated?
Link
Hyphens[edit]Numerals are joined with hyphens:
sept cent mille trois cent vingt et un → sept-cent-mille-trois-cent-vingt-et-un (700,321).
Elements of compound nouns are fused together:
if one element is a verb: porte-monnaie → portemonnaie (wallet)
in bahuvrihi compounds (where the individual sense of the elements has changed): sage-femme → sagefemme (midwife)
in onomatopoeias: coin coin → coincoin (quack).
Loan compounds are also fused together:
hot-dog → hotdog (hot dog).
week-end → weekend, aligning the word with its modern English spelling.
Re: Usually/Seldom from violet91, posted on 01-07-2013 at 14:17:25 (D | E)
...as you say , modern English spelling !
Still , hyphenated words are not that easy : as you know, I can't have an ex-husband , since 'mine' is the first one ; I was X-rayed last Monday and found it difficult to keep my self -control , although I am self- assured on the whole...As Travis , np, hushpuppy and sherry have understood , I am not anti-American at all !
They (grammar books) give a definition and funny example showing the necessity of a hyphen in certain cases : a dirty -movie theater not to confuse with a dirty movie-theater .
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