For these expressions
As always I am feeling nervous before my speech.
As always X player scored more than half of his team's points but still lost.
Can anyone suggest to me any phrase which I can use instead of As always in this context.
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1I think "suggest to me" is more usual in US English.– barbara beetonCommented Mar 12, 2013 at 19:54
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@barbarabeeton: Surely "Can anyone suggest a phrase which I can use" is more idiomatic in US and UK English than "Can anyone suggest to me any phrase which I can use..."– MattCommented Mar 12, 2013 at 22:28
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1@Matt -- I agree that leaving out the "me" part is more idiomatic, and probably should have thought of that. It's just that "suggest me" was so jarring that it put other possibilities out of my mind. (Verbs with two objects and no prepositions were the subject of my master's thesis in linguistics. "Suggest" wasn't even suggested for inclusion in that list at the time.)– barbara beetonCommented Mar 13, 2013 at 13:12
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3 Answers
There are a variety of different phrases you might want to choose.
As always, my flight was delayed.
As per usual, my flight was delayed.
My flight was delayed. Typical. (idiomatic, passive aggressive)
Just typical. My flight was delayed. (idiomatic, passive aggressive)
As ever, my flight was delayed.
Once again, my flight was delayed.
FumbleFingers also suggested the following great alternatives:
Unsurprisingly, my flight was delayed.
True to form, my flight was delayed.
Most of these are very similar, but be careful - some are more passive aggressive than others.
You could use as usual or, in the first example, as it usually happens to me.
In the second example, you could use as it usually happens, which can also be used for the other sentence.
answered Mar 12, 2013 at 19:20
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1shouldn't it be "happens TO me"?– user114Commented Mar 12, 2013 at 19:28
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1Carlo's right that you're missing "to" there. Another alternative that's also more common than as always is as ever. You wouldn't usually follow that with anything like "happens". Commented Mar 12, 2013 at 19:42
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@Carlo_R. Yes, you are right. This is what happens when I am writing two answers in two different sites.
:|Commented Mar 12, 2013 at 20:07
I am feeling nervous before my speech, as I always do.
As is inevitable, I am feeling nervous before my speech.
As ever, I am feeling nervous before my speech.
As standard, I am feeling nervous before my speech.
There are probably a lot more, but all of the most natural ones have been covered already.
