What is the difference between "occasionally" and "sometimes"?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
Great question. "Sometimes" and "occasionally" are both "adverbs of frequency", meaning they are used to describe how often we do something. Frequency can be thought of as a scale because it is not precise. The exceptions are the endpoints such as "always" which means 100% of the time and "never" which means 0% of the time. "Sometimes" is in the middle. While in conversation you will often hear the two used interchangeably, it is important to remember that "occasionally" is not the same as "sometimes". This is because we use it to mean less than "sometimes" but more than "never". Ex: I only work 3 days a week so I sometimes sleep in. Ex: I work 5 days a week so I occasionally sleep in. Ex: I sometimes go to the gym. Ex: I occasionally go to the gym.
