38
3
In an answer in the Spanish site about the use of timbre in European Spanish I tried to say that there is a specific meaning of the word that I know but very infrequently get to use, so I wrote this:
I also know and seldom use the meaning of the word in the context of musical instruments.
Today my answer got edited by a user who speaks US English, and ended up like this:
I also know and very occasionally use the meaning of the word in the context of musical instruments.
I usually trust the corrections this person makes to my answers in English, but this time I got a little puzzled about the reason of the change.
- Is seldom a word that is seldom used in English? (Yes, pun intended.) Did it just get changed to another, more frequently used expression?
- Did I use the word in a wrong way? What would be the proper way to use seldom in that sentence? Following the comment left when the text got changed, is it just that seldom produces a negative feeling and I just had to write "I also know BUT seldom use..."?
Yes, I know I just have to ask this person, but I would like to get a broader opinion about this.
1I would have thought the correct answer was to use "seldomly" in place of "seldom", but the answers make me doubt. Can anyone clarify? – Mr Lister – 2019-07-19T10:27:41.943
Because someone is a pointless pedant who doesn't mind inverting the meaning of your sentence as long as his preferred usage prevails. Ignore. – Marquis of Lorne – 2019-07-19T10:34:41.970
1A stylistic comment on the edit, thanks to Mark Twain: “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very’; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” – Greg Bacon – 2019-07-19T14:45:17.587
5@MrLister, "seldom" is an adverb. Not all adverbs end with "-ly" (and not all words that end with "-ly" are adverbs). "Seldom" is an example of an adverb to which "-ly" should not be appended. – Alan – 2019-07-19T15:52:26.527
Interest only: I'd have tended to write " ... know, but seldom use, ...". – Russell McMahon – 2019-07-23T11:28:20.737