English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

In a question like "which of these cars do you regularly use?"

2006-10-26 06:26:34 · 8 answers · asked by wondering 2 in Education & Reference Words & Wordplay

8 answers

There are subtle differences in the ways you can use "regularly".

See the Dictionary.com entry (that first set) at: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/regularly

Both the expressions you list are entirely possible, but ordinarily you will choose one or the other based on what the POINT of the question is.

Case A) If you are asking ME about which of two cars in our family *I* typically drive, you would likely ask, "Which of these cars do you regularly use?" And I would say "I regularly use the van. (My wife prefers the Civic.)" Test: you could substitute "ordinarily", "normally" or "typically", or perhaps "most of the time" in these sentences.
(meaning #3 in the listing above)

Case B) On the other hand, if you not trying to identify THE car, but asking about whether I/we drive two or more cars 'with some regularity; reasonably often' (as opposed to perhaps using one 'just for Sundays' or long trips), you would be more apt to say, "Which of these cars do you use regularly?" And I would respond, "We use them BOTH regularly; in fact, we drive them nearly every day."
(meaning #1 in the listing above)

One thing that may cause some confusion here. Sometimes people throw in "regularly" at the end, after a PAUSE (should be marked by a comma). That has the same meaning as Case A, because here you are adding a separate point, perhaps to emphasize that, while I actually drive BOTH cars at times, the one I typically drive is this one. (Again, compare the equivalent statement, "This is the car I drive, normally." Here too you can see what a difference the comma makes. WITHOUT the comma, the statement means something entirely different, viz., that I drive it in some UNUSUAL or irresponsible manner!)

2006-10-26 08:04:33 · answer #1 · answered by bruhaha 7 · 0 0

Use Regularly

2006-10-26 13:29:03 · answer #2 · answered by mrsmckevitt 2 · 0 0

"regularly use" Both ways are correct.

2006-10-26 13:30:02 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

use regularly

2006-10-26 13:30:00 · answer #4 · answered by angelbear1202 1 · 0 0

use regularly

2006-10-26 13:28:12 · answer #5 · answered by Brainiac 4 · 0 0

they are both very correct. the only difference is in what you want to emphasize.

2006-10-26 13:29:24 · answer #6 · answered by Patricia Lidia 3 · 2 0

Both are equally acceptable.

2006-10-26 13:28:14 · answer #7 · answered by Jez 5 · 0 0

use regualrly...

2006-10-26 13:28:17 · answer #8 · answered by nari 3 · 0 0

fedest.com, questions and answers