How Often- Small Talk

Small Talk with How Often

Ask a question from below and then ask “How often…?” as a follow-up question (to get
more details about what they said, check your understanding, etc). Take turns doing the
same thing with your partner, with one question from below and at least one “How
often…?” follow-up question each time. You can also ask other follow-up questions without
“How often”, but you must ask a “How often…?” question for each small talk question
below that you ask. Your teacher will tell you if/ when you can use the language on the
following page to help.

Ask about any small talk questions which you don’t understand, aren’t sure how to answer
or can’t think of follow-up questions for, working together to think of suitable follow-up
questions each time.

How often conversations presentation
Try to answer these questions, first of all without looking at the next page.
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What words come after “How often…?”

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What tense are “How often…?” questions usually in? Why?

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Are those questions about this moment in time, or about habits/ routines/ repeated
actions?

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What are typical answers to “How often…?” questions?

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How can you rank those answers (with the most often top)? Which have the same
meaning as each other?

Suggested answers to “How often…?” questions – mixed
 all the time
 almost always
 almost never
 always
 generally
 hardly ever
 never
 often
 rarely
 seldom
 sometimes
 usually

p. 1

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2020

300 pages of other social English materials:

https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/social-english/

Suggested small talk questions
Meeting again
 How was your weekend? / What did you do at the weekend?/ Did you do anything

special at the weekend?

 How was your evening?
 How was your lunch?
 How has your day been?
 How has your week been?
 How’s work?
 What are you working on at the moment?
 Have you been busy?
 Have you had many meetings/ had any business trips/ received many emails/…

(today/ this week/ in the last seven days/ since the last class/ this month/ recently)?

 Have you done your homework?
 Have you used English (today/ this week/ in the last seven days/ since the last class/

this month/ recently)?

 How’s it going?/ How are you doing?/ How are things?
 How’s (name)?/ Have you heard from (name) (recently)?
 How’s your family?
 Do you have any plans for the weekend?/ What are you going to do at the weekend?

Meeting for the first time
 What do you do?
 What exactly do you do?/ What are your duties?/ What does your job involve?
 Which department/ section/ team do you work in?
 Where are you based?
 Where are you from?/ Where do you come from?
 What are your hobbies?/ What do you do in your free time?
 Do you like…?/ How do you feel about…?

Meeting for the first time or again
 How was your journey?/ Did you have any problems getting here?

p. 2

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2020

300 pages of other social English materials:

https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/social-english/

Suggested “How often…?” follow-up questions
 How often do you (have to) … at work?
 How often do you (have to)… in English?
 How often do you cook (…)?
 How often do you do overtime?
 How often do you do that?
 How often do you eat that/ eat…?
 How often do you go back to…?
 How often do you go out for...?
 How often do you go there/ go to…?
 How often do you have new…?
 How often do you hear from…?
 How often do you meet…?
 How often do you see…?
 How often do you spend time…?
 How often do you take…/ travel by…?
 How often do you visit…?

Suggested answers to “How often…?” questions – in order of how often
 always/ all the time
 almost always
 usually/ generally
 often
 sometimes
 rarely/ seldom/ hardly ever
 almost never
 never

Suggested reactions to how often answers (by the person who asked)
 Never? (Really?)
 Always? (Really?)
 _________? (Really?)
 So often?
 So rarely?
 Really? I thought you would say…
 You don’t surprise me.
 That’s what I thought you would say.
 Me too.
 Really? I…

p. 3

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2020

300 pages of other social English materials:

https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/social-english/