[General] Less frequent than 'would, or used to'

Status
Not open for further replies.

Kazuo

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2010
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
Hello!

A. Plane accidents would happen.
B. Plane accidents used to happen.

I introduce the two sentences as an example to express things which have happened from the past up to the present. But they sound as if accidents had happened to a considerable degree.

In order to express the rarity of plane accidents;
1. The addition of suitable adverbs such as rarely, seldom, hardly ever … etc.
2. There are other expressions in place of ‘would, used to’.

As for 1, no example sentences have been found yet other than on websites.
As for 2,
Plane accidents have rarely happened.
There have rarely been plane accidents.

Are there any other ideas, please, preferably not using adverbs?

Thanks in advance
 

Kazuo

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2010
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
Hello, Gillnetter!

Thank you very much for your reply

Aircraft is thought to be one of the safest means of transportation. This is a statistical fact, a fact which has been obtained considering its casualties over a certain long period of time.

Would you please show me a sentence which is appropriate to describe this situation from the statistical point of view?

Thanks in advance
 

bertietheblue

Senior Member
Joined
May 21, 2010
Member Type
Other
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
'Plane accidents' probably occur fairly regularly without human fatalities (eg engines shutting off or the undercarriage not opening fully). Do you mean 'plane disasters'? If so, simply:

Plane disasters are rare.

or if you want to say this has been the case for a given period time (I assume not 'always' since I imagine disasters were quite frequent in the early days of aviation):

Plane disasters have long since been rare.
There have been very few plane disasters
...in the last [specify number] years/decades.
...since [point in time].
...in recent times.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top