For the longest time, I even had trouble determining whether it was correct to say “ever so often” or “every so often.” They both sound right when you say them and, as it turns out, they are both correct. However, they have nearly opposite meanings altogether. Weird, right?
After a little bit of research, I have confirmed that it would be correct to write “every so often” when the meaning you want is “every once a while.” Alternatively, you can refer to an event or occurrence as happening rarely or occasionally.
Take this example:
Every so often, I like to pack up my laptop and work from the coffee shop. I don’t do it all the time, but it’s nice having a change of scenery every once in a while.
This is the kind of usage that most of us know.
On the flip side, “ever so often” is a largely UK English phrase meaning “frequently” or “again and again.” Alternatively, you could just say that an event happens often. Here’s an example:
Road construction slows my commute home from work ever so often. I just can’t seem to avoid it.
As you can see, the meaning of “ever so often” is almost the complete opposite of “every so often.” There is only one letter that separates them, but as you’ve noticed, one letter can make all the world of difference. This can be more challenging to remember than the other bad habits that I hear ever so often.
I can see the potential to mix these two phrases up. Luckily, I’ve never had to deal with such a problem.
interesting. I don’t tend to use ever so often ever so often so I shouldn’t have anything to worry about. I do however use every so often every so often so it’ll be good to take note of this.
I wish there were “Like” buttons on this page. I’d click your response twice for good measure! Love it! 🙂
Question remains, do you use ever so often every so often?
Interesting that in your sentence in your last paragraph that begins “There is only one letter… ” you misspelled a word by one letter. I think you meant “that” instead of “than.”
Good catch! Typos can get the best of me too. 🙂
The “than “ is in its appropriate place. “That” would be out of place for the intended meaning of that sentence. The “than” is there to give effect to the “more” at the beginning of the sentence.