Im not always in California

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A person asks about my business travels. I reply with--

Im not always in California. I travel in the US.

Can this be said?
 

emsr2d2

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I assumed you had. No-one has edited this post. If they had, the edit information would appear.
 
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I assumed you had. No-one has edited this post. If they had, the edit information would appear.

I don't even know how to put an exclamation there. Must've been some type of error. Could you take a look at the question?

Thank you!
 

MikeNewYork

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Your original would be better with "often" before "travel".
 
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Your original would be better with "often" before "travel".

How about in this situation: I'm doing business in New York, and I meet a friend of a friend, who lives in New York. I say this to him -

I'm not always in New York. I (often) travel in the US.

Is this better? Would a native say such a thing? Thanks!
 

MikeNewYork

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It is fine. And "often" makes it better.
 
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It is fine. And "often" makes it better.
If saying: I'm not always in New York. I travel in the US.

Then I don't know why he was looking at me weird after I said it... Thought I made a grammar mistake or said something unnatural.
 

MikeNewYork

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I have no idea.
 

emsr2d2

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I've removed the exclamation mark from your title. When I edited it, there was a dot in the "Exclamation" choice for "Post Icons". I changed it to "No icon". You might have just accidentally clicked in there as you moved around the screen.
 

SoothingDave

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If saying: I'm not always in New York. I travel in the US.

Then I don't know why he was looking at me weird after I said it... Thought I made a grammar mistake or said something unnatural.

It seems weird to me since New York (or California) is in the US.

I would say that I travel throughout the US. Or "all around."
 

emsr2d2

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I agree. I would use something like "I travel all over the US, not just New York/California/Kansas".
 

Raymott

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If saying: I'm not always in New York. I travel in the US.
Then I don't know why he was looking at me weird after I said it... Thought I made a grammar mistake or said something unnatural.
Isn't New York in the US? I might look at you weird if I heard that. "I travel elsewhere in the US", or "I travel all over the US" would not elicit a weird look.
 

MikeNewYork

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Because he said he is not always in the New York and he travels in the US, the weird look is not understandable to me. People don't always say things the way we would say them, but this should be understandable to any native English speaker.
 
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Because he said he is not always in the New York and he travels in the US, the weird look is not understandable to me. People don't always say things the way we would say them, but this should be understandable to any native English speaker.

I guess, because in the start of the conversation, I was fluent and sounded native, and then I uttered: "I'm not always in New York. I travel in the US."

And maybe that's not something a native speaker would say?

Thank you.
 

MikeNewYork

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It is not exactly the way I would say it. But I would understand that you were not always in New York when you were traveling on the US.
 

emsr2d2

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Just because it's not necessarily how Mike would say it, why do you now think that no native speaker would be likely to say it that way?
 
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