Usually/Seldom

Usually/Seldom
Message 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

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Re: Usually/Seldom from mililia19, posted on 29-06-2013 at 18:30:36 (D | E)
Hello,

In general the question generally begins like that:How often do you...
usually and seldom do not have the same meaning.
Usually is an expression an adverb that has the meaning of most often.
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

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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.

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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 )

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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.

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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.

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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 ?

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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.

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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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