murray_l

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murray_l
  Junior Editor

A member of the Grammar.com vibrant community of passionate editors.

  July 2021     3 years ago

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Latest Comments: 3 total

Grammar.com
I sometimes google words to see their frequency. Google say it has around 2 billion uses of 'often' vs about 50,000 uses of 'oftentimes'. I wonder if Americans use 'oftentimes' more in speaking and use 'often' more in writing. I will admit a possible bias that I hear their use of 'oftentimes' more clearly than I hear any non-use of 'often'. Maybe they use both, and maybe they have an intent in doing so, but if so, I'm not at all clear on what their distinction is. It is possible they use it to replace 'sometimes' with something more emphatic."Oftentimes she just sat on the verandah staring at the street" conveys something different from "She often sat on the verandah staring at the street" but the distinction is subtle and literary and lost on ordinary speakers who are just picking up habits thoughtlessly. Still I've learned it's hard to stand against the tide of fashion. 

3 years ago

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Grammar.com
I'm glad you understand how oftentimes sounds awkward to non-Americans. I didn't intend to make that the issue though. Changing American behaviour is beyond us. I just wanted to clarify that 'oftentimes' is not the original and 'often' is not the derivative. It's more or less the other way around - but it's all preceded by 'oft' - which confuses things but doesn't wipe out my point. I have a Shorter OED and checked it before contributing. 

3 years ago

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Grammar.com
Often is an extension of oft. It is definitely not a shortening of oftentimes. Oftentimes is constructed from times added to often - and at one time to oft. Oftentimes is an archaic English word that has lately been taken up in American English. Why Americans have taken up a longer version of a word is their business, but it's wrong to claim that the American long word is primary and the English short word is derivative - not so. As an elder Australian, the American 'oftentimes' sounds quite rustic to me. I hope younger Australians don't adopt this unnecessary and awkward extended version of often. There, I've said it. 

3 years ago

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Quiz

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Identify the sentence with correct use of the future perfect tense:
A By tomorrow, she will have completed her project.
B She had completed the task yesterday.
C They have finished their dinner before the movie starts.
D He is working on the assignment now.