In this mini episode, you will learn three interesting idioms that work like adverbs of frequency.
Episode 303 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you three interesting idioms that work like adverbs of frequency. Send your questions about English and your suggestions to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“This is Elena, from Russia. And you are listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 303 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
In this episode, I am going to teach you about a group of idioms. And these idioms work like adverbs of frequency.
Do you remember what adverbs of frequency are? These are words that say how often something happens. These are words like never, sometimes, occasionally, always. Those are adverbs of frequency.
And today we are going to talk about three idioms that work like adverbs of frequency. Because these are idioms, they are not really things that you can try to understand. Like other idioms, you just need to learn them as one whole unit, one whole piece, instead of looking at each part and trying to understand it that way.
The first of these idioms is “every once in a while.” Every once in a while. That’s every: e-v-e-r-y, once: o-n-c-e, in, a, while: w-h-i-l-e. Every once in a while. “Every once in a while” means occasionally, not very often. I think “every once in a while” describes something that happens more frequently than rarely, but maybe less frequently than sometimes or occasionally.
It can be hard to think about these different adverbs that way. There’s not really an exact meaning for some of these. But I think “every once in a while” sounds a little bit less common, less frequent than “sometimes” and a little bit more frequent than “rarely.”
And you can see what I mean when I call this an idiom. Because “every once in a while” doesn’t really make any sense if you look at the parts. I think it’s impossible to understand if you look at each part. So you just need to understand that the whole phrase, “every once in a while,” has one meaning.
The next idiom is “every now and then.” Every now and then. That’s every, now: n-o-w, and, then: t-h-e-n. Every now and then. Just like “every once in a while,” “every now and then” is somewhere between “rarely” and “sometimes.”
Maybe you are seeing the pattern here. Both of these idioms have the word every, and they use the word every in a strange way that’s hard to understand. Just remember “every now and then.” That’s one whole phrase. You don’t need to try to understand each part.
And the last of these interesting and strange idioms that I’m going to tell you about today is very similar. It is “every so often.” Every so often. That’s every, so: s-o, often: o-f-t-e-n. Every so often.
This idiom is also for something that happens more frequently than rarely, but less frequently than sometimes.
These three idioms all use the word every in a strange way, and they all mean basically the same thing. “Every once in a while,” “every now and then,” “every so often.” These are three interesting idioms that I think you should know.
Outro
This is the end of episode 303 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have questions about English, or if you have comments for me, or if you are interested in private lessons, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can play at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Elena recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to EverybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with a new episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. I’ll see you soon. Goodbye!