in my spare times

[joham]

Can we use 'in my spare time' instead of the plural form in the following sentence?

In my spare times at Bath I've been reading Jane Austen and the more I read the more I admire and respect and do reverence.

Thank you in advance.

 

[a_vee]

I have never heard anyone say "in my spare times". This might just be a native speaker breaking tradition to be creative.

Do use "in my spare time".

 

[Barb_D]

I suspect it was not written by a native speaker. This is just not natural: the more I admire and respect and do reverence.

...the more I read of her, the more I admire, respect, and even revere her.

 

[Tdol]

It doesn't sound like a native speaker to me either.

 

[birdeen's call]

It was actually written by Rudyard Kipling. "Do reverence" was also used by Shakespeare. Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2:

ANTONY But yesterday the word of Caesar might
Have stood against the world. Now lies he there,
And none so poor to do him reverence.
O masters, if I were disposed to stir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong—
Who, you all know, are honorable men.
I will not do them wrong. I rather choose
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,
Than I will wrong such honorable men.
But here’s a parchment with the seal of Caesar.
I found it in his closet. 'Tis his will.
Let but the commons hear this testament—
Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read—
And they would go and kiss dead Caesar’s wounds
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood,
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it as a rich legacy
Unto their issue.

This usage is archaic.

 

[Barb_D]

Kipling wrote "in my spare times"?

I will need to start writing "I doubt this was written by a native speaker in modern times."

 

[emsr2d2]

Kipling wrote "in my spare times"?

I will need to start writing "I doubt this was written by a native speaker in modern times."

I couldn't track down the full quote, but the latter part certainly appears to have been by Kipling: "

[SIZE=+1]In March 1915, the Kiplings had visited Bath and he re-read the works of Jane Austen there. He wrote to a friend that “the more I read the more I admire and respect and do reverence…"[/SIZE]

 

[emsr2d2]

OK, here's the evidence ... The Letters of Rudyard Kipling: 1911-19 - Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Pinney - Google Books

 

[birdeen's call]

Kipling wrote "in my spare times"?

I will need to start writing "I doubt this was written by a native speaker in modern times."

He did. However, I've been unable to find any other instance of "in my spare times" in texts whose authors were undoubtedly native, so it does seem quite strange, even if we take the elapsed time into account.

 

[Tdol]

As it comes from a volume of his letters, it could have been a slip of the pen.

Interesting that I have accused a Nobel prize winner with not sounding like a native speaker. ;-)

 

[Rover_KE]

Can we use 'in my spare time' instead of the plural form in the following sentence?

In my spare times at Bath I've been reading Jane Austen and the more I read the more I admire and respect and do reverence.

Let's conclude by saying a resounding yes to joham's original question and advising every student in the world to forget about the apparently unique — though well-authenticated — usage of 'in my spare times'.

Rover