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1 Post By SoothingDave
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Pls answers my questions
Please answer my following questions.
1. Sometimes I see some people using "all the time" and other people using "all the times"? Which one is correct?
2. When I tell people that I have "a couple of" things. People would think that I only have "2" things. But I actually mean "a few of" things. What does "a couple of" actually mean? Does it also mean "a few", "several"?
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Re: Pls answers my questions

Originally Posted by
polygon
Please answer my following questions.
1. Sometimes I see some people using "all the time" and other people using "all the times"? Which one is correct?
I can't think of a situation where "all the times" would be correct. Unless someone else can think of a context for that, then I recommend you use "all the time".
2. When I tell people that I have "a couple of" things. People would think that I only have "2" things. But I actually mean "a few of" things. What does "a couple of" actually mean? Does it also mean "a few", "several"?
"A couple" means two. It is frequently misused, for example "I'll be there in a couple of minutes" rarely turns out to be only two minutes so it can be used to express "some" or "a few" but it shouldn't be. If you're talking about something easily countable, then it would have to mean two: I have a couple of pencils = I have two pencils.
See above.
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Re: Pls answers my questions

Originally Posted by
polygon
Please answer my following questions.
1. Sometimes I see some people using "all the time" and other people using "all the times"? Which one is correct? "all the time"
2. When I tell people that I have "a couple of" things. People would think that I only have "2" things. But I actually mean "a few of" things. What does "a couple of" actually mean? Does it also mean "a few", "several"?
"A couple of things" is frequently used to refer to more than two things.
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Re: Pls answers my questions
How about "I'm sorry for all the times I let you down"?
In general, though, use "all the time" unless you are specifically talking about certain moments (times).
I agree that "couple" literally means two, but it is not unusual for people to mean "a few" or "a handful" when they say "a couple." Like "I met a couple friends and we had a couple beers." It might have been 3 friends and 5 beers.
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Re: Pls answers my questions

Originally Posted by
SoothingDave
How about "I'm sorry for all the times I let you down"?
In general, though, use "all the time" unless you are specifically talking about certain moments (times).
I agree that "couple" literally means two, but it is not unusual for people to mean "a few" or "a handful" when they say "a couple." Like "I met a couple friends and we had a couple beers." It might have been 3 friends and 5 beers.
Unfortunately, polygon didn't provide context/examples for his/her "all the time(s)" and your example with "all the times" is fine, but I would mention that, in your example with 's', the phrase would suggest that there were exceptions and times when the speaker didn't let him/her down. On the other hand, use of "all the time" (no 's') would suggest no exceptions.
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