occasionally VS sometimes
voy...@yahoo.com
"occasionally" or "sometimes"?
Thanks in advance!
Django Cat
voy...@yahoo.com wrote:
> Which adverb indicates a greater frequency of occurrence:
> "occasionally" or "sometimes"?
>
About the same. It's possibly a the glass is half-full/the glass is
half-empty scenario.
DC
Steve Hayes
>Which adverb indicates a greater frequency of occurrence:
>"occasionally" or "sometimes"?
Neither.
The difference is that "occasionally" tend to refer to a specific occasion,
though not always. Sometimes is theoretically more random.
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://people.tribe.net/hayesstw
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
Marius Hancu
Steve Hayes wrote:
> >Which adverb indicates a greater frequency of occurrence:
> >"occasionally" or "sometimes"?
>
> Neither.
>
> The difference is that "occasionally" tend to refer to a specific occasion,
> though not always. Sometimes is theoretically more random.
Interesting. I would have thought the other way round.
Anyway, checking this dictionary, they seem to be synonyms, thus
equally random:
-------
oc·ca·sion·al·ly
Function: adverb
1 : now and then : here and there : SOMETIMES <open areas are only
occasionally interrupted by clumps of aspen -- American Guide Series:
Nevada>
2 dialect chiefly England : on a particular occasion : for the occasion
http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com
---------
Marius Hancu
Mark Brader
> Which adverb indicates a greater frequency of occurrence:
> "occasionally" or "sometimes"?
In terms of probability, I would say that "occasionally" suggests
something around 10%, although it might be used if the probability
was anywhere from 1% to 25%. "Sometimes" suggests something around
50%, but could range from about 5% all the way up to 95%. (The
actual numbers I'm quoting are just out of my head.) So the two
terms do overlap, but something that's "sometimes" true tends to
be more frequent.
If we're speaking of an event where there's no sensible basis for
speaking of a probability, the meanings are more vague, but
"occasionally" still suggests a relatively uncommon event, I'd say.
--
Mark Brader | "The occasional accidents had been much overemphasized,
Toronto | and later investigations ... revealed that nearly 90%
m...@vex.net | ... could have been prevented." --Wiley Post, 1931
My text in this article is in the public domain.
UC
Steve Hayes wrote:
> On Mon, 18 Sep 2006 07:51:42 GMT, voy...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
> >Which adverb indicates a greater frequency of occurrence:
> >"occasionally" or "sometimes"?
>
> Neither.
>
> The difference is that "occasionally" tend to refer to a specific occasion,
> though not always. Sometimes is theoretically more random.
In practice, the two are indistinguishable.
Adrian Bailey
news:1rjsg2d6bl522kioc...@4ax.com...
> Which adverb indicates a greater frequency of occurrence:
> "occasionally" or "sometimes"?
sometimes
Adrian
Gary Williams
It must be discouraging to get contradictory answers from native
speakers.
I'm with the party that says "sometimes" indicates greater frequency,
or, more precisely, that while the lower bound of the two is pretty
much the same, the upper limit on "sometimes" is much higher.
Gary Williams
UC
These are very vague terms to begin with. It rather difficult to
distinguish between them. Dictionaries define them reciprocally!
Main Entry:1sometimes
Pronunciation:*s*m*t*mz also (*)s*m*t-
Function:adverb
Etymology:1some + times, plural of time, n.
1 : on some occasions : at times : now and then : OCCASIONALLY *writes
T sometimes in captious criticism of some policy or other Ernestine
Evans* *illustrated by excellent and sometimes beautiful photographs
Geographical Journal*
2 obsolete a : ONCE b : FORMERLY
Main Entry:occasionally
Pronunciation:**k*zh*n*l*, -zhn*l*, -i sometimes -zh*nl-
Function:adverb
1 : now and then : here and there : SOMETIMES *open areas are only
occasionally interrupted by clumps of aspen American Guide Series:
Nevada*
Frank ess
You'll occasionally get contradictory answers, and sometimes the
distinctions are enlightening.
Occasionally has to do with inevitability and statistics: in an
unlimited universe of instances, there will be occasional instances of
type c.
Sometimes has to do with luck and value: in an unlimited universe of
instances, there may or may not be instances of type e.
--
Frank ess