Does the phrase "often a times" exist? If so, what is the correct way to use it?
Would the following sentence be correct?
I have seen him loafing about in the streets often a times.
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You probably mean oftentimes. thefreedictionary.com/oftentimes. 'Often a times' is not a used expression.– user66974Commented Aug 30, 2015 at 8:17
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Nope. I have a vivid recollection of having read the phrase often a times in a few books.– Sampark SharmaCommented Aug 30, 2015 at 8:19
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It is not present in Google. Books: books.google.com/ngrams/…. Might be a slang expression or simply a typo.– user66974Commented Aug 30, 2015 at 8:23
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There's "oftentimes" (common) and "often a time" (rarer). Maybe you're conflating the two.– Peter ShorCommented Aug 30, 2015 at 10:05
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1 Answer
The Ngram viewer is ignorant of "often a times," but it finds "often at times," currently out-written 100 to 1 by "oftentimes." From Young Children at School in in the Inner City by Barbara Tizard:
It seems likely, too, that disruptive behaviour occurred more often at times not observed,....
But the google finds the phrase about 175K times in websites saying things like
Sports betting often a times has been referred to as gambling where a bet is made in prediction of the outcome of a particular game.
The phrase "often at times" gets only 350K hits. (By way of contrast, "oftentimes" gets 11.7M.) I'm tempted to say that "often a times" is merely a phonetic transcription of "often at times," when the final "t" in "at" gets consumed by the initial "t" in "times."
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3As far as I can tell, "oftentimes" (or "ofttimes") can almost always be replaced by "often", and probably should be. By contrast I would suggest that "often at times" is best used as part of a longer phrase such as "They always went to church at least once a week, more often at times" or "She reported from many countries, often at times of conflict".– HenryCommented Aug 30, 2015 at 10:03