Juliana
What's the meaning of "for a change"? When do you use the expression "for a change"?
Jan 10, 2017 2:53 AM
Answers · 6
3
This is often used when you want to do something different or when something different is happening. For example, if you always have to get up early, you might say, ¨I would like to sleep in for a change.¨ Another example: if it rains every day for a week and then you have a sunny day, you might say, ¨We had nice weather for a change.¨
January 10, 2017
1
It means that an action or situation is different from how it usually is. In Spanish, you could probably say “para variar.” Welcome to italki. BTW, if you provide some context, people will give you much more useful answers.
January 10, 2017
Hi July, 'for a change' --> I can think of two types of situations you may want to use this phrase: -Reflective -Sarcastic This are REALLY poor categories, but they are the only ones that i can think of. Reflective 1) Lets do some exercise, for a change (the speaker is implying that they have not exercised before/ in a while/ much, and want to 'change' this) 2) We moved to the countryside for a change (the speaker is implying that he/she was bored where they were living and wanted to make 'a change', and moved) * In this case, 'for a change' is used when you want to do something differently from before or you have done something differently because you want to change something. Sarcastic *When you are being sarcastic, you are just over exaggerating something. So in this case: 1) How about we spend all our money on cheesecake, for a change (in this case, the speaker doesn't want to change anything, and doesn't want to spend/ waste money on buying cheesecake) 2) For a bit of a change, i'm drinking Pepsi instead of Coke (the change isn't really a change, since both Pepsi and Coke taste extremely similar) This is a tough question, since 'for a change' can be used in a lot of ways. These were the only two I could think of. Maybe you can make a couple of sentences using 'for a change' and we can check them to see if they make sense. I hope this was a little helpful :)
January 10, 2017
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