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.