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Wonder123 Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
whenever vs every time
I get confused when using whenever and every time, are the both same and can be used interchangeably.
I have a box full of colourful balls in the box. Because of rare usage of these balls, I often find it difficult to choose the best coloured ball from the box whenever I go to play ball games.
I have a box full of colourful balls in the box. Because of rare usage of these balls, I often find it difficult to choose the best coloured ball from the box every time I go to play ball games.
Please help me.
I have a box full of colourful balls in the box. Because of rare usage of these balls, I often find it difficult to choose the best coloured ball from the box whenever I go to play ball games.
I have a box full of colourful balls in the box. Because of rare usage of these balls, I often find it difficult to choose the best coloured ball from the box every time I go to play ball games.
Please help me.
Top answer
" In adverbial usage, as far as I can think, they usually are not interchangeable: "It happens every time" (can't use "whenever") "I'd choose this one every time" (can't use "whenever") "Till we meet again, whenever that may be" (can't use "every time")
- " In adverbial usage, as far as I can think, they usually are not interchangeable: "It happens every time" (can't use "whenever") "I'd choose this one every time" (can't use "whenever") "Till we meet again, whenever that may be" (can't use "every time")
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7 Answers
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In the following kind of usage, as a conjunction, the two are roughly interchangeable:
"I feel dizzy every time I stand up." ~ "I feel dizzy whenever I stand up."
"Every time it rains, the roof leaks." ~ "Whenever it rains, the roof leaks."
In adverbial usage, as far as I can think, they usually are not interchangeable:
"It happens every time" (can't use "whenever")
"I feel dizzy every time I stand up." ~ "I feel dizzy whenever I stand up."
"Every time it rains, the roof leaks." ~ "Whenever it rains, the roof leaks."
In adverbial usage, as far as I can think, they usually are not interchangeable:
"It happens every time" (can't use "whenever")
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Wonder123Ok thanks. Are the above sentences ok?Not really, I'm afraid. The whole thing feels rather unnatural. I'm finding it hard to rewrite in a natural way without knowing more about the context. What sort of ***** are these, and what games do you play with them?
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They are marbles, and the game is hitting a bunch of different colours of marbles arranged on the ground with the marbles you chose from the box.
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Although marbles are of course spherical, it is rather confusing in this context to refer to them as "*****". In the context of games and sports, "*****" are normally things like footballs, basketballs, tennis *****, etc.
You can say "I have a box full of coloured marbles. They aren't used very often, so I find it difficult to choose the best one when I go to play the game."
Howe
You can say "I have a box full of coloured marbles. They aren't used very often, so I find it difficult to choose the best one when I go to play the game."
Howe
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Ok thanks for editing. Does my original sentence made sense to you when you first read and will it make sense to anyone who reads them from grammatical point of view.
Suppose if I ask you which one would I need to use in the my original sentence, every time or whenever? what would be your answer.
Suppose if I ask you which one would I need to use in the my original sentence, every time or whenever? what would be your answer.
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Neither "every time" nor "whenever" works very well in that sentence (sorry, I probably should have mentioned this earlier). Plain "when" would be better. This is probably because "every time" and "whenever" emphasise the absolute nature of something, whereas "I often find it difficult" is a more moderated statement.
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