Whenever and Every Time: Repeated Situations
In this lesson, you can link a recurring situation with its response.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Choose a short recording.
Before you start
Describe a repeated reaction.
See one possible response
Whenever it rains, I take a coat.
You describe routines that repeatedly happen during a club’s weekly meetings.
What you will practise
- Link a recurring situation with its response.
- Describe a repeated relationship without inventing a count or duration.
- Shift a recurring pattern between present and past while preserving its participants.
Try each response before revealing a model. Equivalent grammatical answers are welcome when they preserve the task meaning.
Whenever: on the occasions when
Whenever can introduce a repeated situation: Whenever the room gets noisy, we close the door. It connects the occasion with what happens in that situation. It is not the same as giving an exact frequency such as twice a week.
Whenever a new member joins, we introduce ourselves.
Whenever I lose my place, I check the page number.
Every time: each relevant occasion
Every time strongly includes each occasion in the set being discussed. Name the relevant period if needed: Every time we met last month, it rained. The phrase does not itself say how many meetings there were or how long the rain lasted.
Every time the timer rings, we change partners.
Every time she visited last summer, she brought a book.
Choose present or past context
Use present forms for a current recurring pattern and past forms for a finished past pattern. Keep the actors clear when they differ. A time clause can come first or last without reversing the relationship.
I take notes whenever the tutor explains a new idea.
We opened the windows whenever the hall became warm.
Keep both clauses in the chosen time context
Whenever the room gets warm, we open a window.
Whenever the room got warm last year, we opened a window.
Guided practice
Say or write your answer first. Then compare the meaning and grammar with the model.
1. On occasions when the bell rings, the group stops. Use whenever.
Compare a model and explanation
Whenever the bell rings, the group stops.
The clause names the repeated occasion.
Accept a grammatical alternative that satisfies the stated prompt and this item’s explanation; the model is not an exhaustive exact-string key.
2. Every time she ___, we make tea. Use visit in a current pattern.
Compare a model and explanation
visits
The singular current subject takes visits.
Accept a grammatical alternative that satisfies the stated prompt and this item’s explanation; the model is not an exhaustive exact-string key.
3. Whenever it rains, we meet indoors. Make it about last winter.
Compare a model and explanation
Whenever it rained last winter, we met indoors.
Both verbs move to the finished past context.
Accept a grammatical alternative that satisfies the stated prompt and this item’s explanation; the model is not an exhaustive exact-string key.
4. Every time we met in May, we practised speaking. Does this give the number of meetings?
Compare a model and explanation
No.
Each relevant occasion is included, but no count is supplied.
Accept a grammatical alternative that satisfies the stated prompt and this item’s explanation; the model is not an exhaustive exact-string key.
5. We check the list whenever someone arrives. Start with Whenever.
Compare a model and explanation
Whenever someone arrives, we check the list.
Clause movement preserves the relationship.
Accept a grammatical alternative that satisfies the stated prompt and this item’s explanation; the model is not an exhaustive exact-string key.
6. When I arrived yesterday, she waved. Whenever I arrive, she waves. Which describes a repeated pattern?
Compare a model and explanation
Whenever I arrive, she waves.
The first sentence describes a particular past arrival.
Accept a grammatical alternative that satisfies the stated prompt and this item’s explanation; the model is not an exhaustive exact-string key.
7. Whenever Priya calls, I write down the address. Who writes?
Compare a model and explanation
I, the speaker.
The main-clause subject performs that action.
Accept a grammatical alternative that satisfies the stated prompt and this item’s explanation; the model is not an exhaustive exact-string key.
8. In a completed course, a learner asked a question on each occasion when the instructions were unclear.
Compare a model and explanation
Whenever the instructions were unclear, the learner asked a question.
Past forms describe the recurring relationship in a finished course.
Accept a grammatical alternative that satisfies the stated prompt and this item’s explanation; the model is not an exhaustive exact-string key.
A short conversation
Listen to the exchange, then take one role. The speaker labels identify roles; do not narrate them.
Open the conversation transcript
Member: What happens when someone new joins?
Host: Whenever a new member arrives, we introduce the group.
Member: Do you change activities often?
Host: Every time the timer rings, we move to the next task.
Listening checks
Listen to each extract, then choose the best answer. These three questions have their own score.
Answer key with explanations
What is stated?
Each meeting in that period used the small room.: Every time includes the relevant meetings.
Compare all choices
- They always used that room throughout their lives.: The scope is last month, not all time.
- Each meeting in that period used the small room.: Every time includes the relevant meetings.
- They met exactly four times.: No count is given.
Who asks for clarification?
The speaker.: I is the subject of ask.
Compare all choices
- The instructions.: They are the condition, not an actor.
- The tutor necessarily.: The tutor receives the question.
- The speaker.: I is the subject of ask.
Is the pattern presented as past or current?
Past.: Became, closed and during the course frame the past pattern.
Compare all choices
- Past.: Became, closed and during the course frame the past pattern.
- One event happening at this exact moment.: The wording describes recurrence.
- A guaranteed future rule.: No future guarantee is made.
Mastery quiz
Choose the best answer for each situation. The score is out of eight.
Answer key with explanations
Which sentence describes a recurring relationship?
Whenever the bell rings, we stop.: Whenever links repeated occasions with a response.
Compare all choices
- Whenever the bell rings, we stop.: Whenever links repeated occasions with a response.
- Stop now!: This is a current instruction, not a recurring account.
- The bell rang once at noon.: This gives one event.
Complete: Every time he ___, we check his ticket.
arrives: The current third-person subject takes arrives.
Compare all choices
- arrive: The verb needs singular agreement.
- arrives: The current third-person subject takes arrives.
- arriving: A finite verb is missing.
Choose the past pattern.
Whenever it rained, we stayed inside.: Both clauses use past forms.
Compare all choices
- Whenever raining, we stay last year.: The clause is incomplete and the tense mismatches last year.
- Whenever it rains yesterday, we stayed.: The present form conflicts with the specified past time.
- Whenever it rained, we stayed inside.: Both clauses use past forms.
Does every time state how many occasions occurred?
No.: It covers the relevant occasions without counting them.
Compare all choices
- No.: It covers the relevant occasions without counting them.
- Yes, always three.: No number is built into the phrase.
- Yes, always one.: It is compatible with repeated occasions.
Choose the same pattern as Whenever I’m unsure, I ask.
I ask whenever I’m unsure.: Reordering does not change the recurring relationship.
Compare all choices
- I never ask when I’m unsure.: This reverses the response.
- I ask whenever I’m unsure.: Reordering does not change the recurring relationship.
- I’m unsure whenever I ask.: This reverses which situation is presented as the trigger.
In Whenever Asha visits, Ben cooks, who cooks?
Ben.: Ben is the main-clause subject.
Compare all choices
- Asha.: Asha visits.
- Both are explicitly said to cook.: Only Ben is named as cook.
- Ben.: Ben is the main-clause subject.
Which gives a count rather than a trigger relationship?
We meet twice a week.: Twice a week states frequency.
Compare all choices
- We meet twice a week.: Twice a week states frequency.
- Every time we meet, we practise.: This links the meeting to a response.
- Whenever the room is free, we meet.: This names a recurring condition.
Choose a carefully limited claim.
Every time we met in June, we used this room.: The time period defines the relevant occasions.
Compare all choices
- Every time proves all future meetings will use this room.: A past pattern does not guarantee future events.
- Every time we met in June, we used this room.: The time period defines the relevant occasions.
- Whenever means the action lasts exactly an hour.: No duration is encoded.
Use it in your own words
A current pattern
Describe two recurring situations and what you do in them.
Reveal a possible response
Whenever I forget a word, I make a note. Every time I finish a chapter, I check the new words.
- State trigger and response
- Keep the current forms consistent
The patterns may be invented.
A past routine
Describe a repeated relationship during a finished course, trip or project.
Reveal a possible response
Whenever we had a free afternoon on the trip, we visited a local café.
- Use a finished past context
- Keep actors clear
Avoid implying a precise frequency unless you give one.
Put it all together
Explain how a fictional discussion group handles newcomers and unclear instructions. Contrast its current practice with last year’s practice and add a general explanation using people.
Reveal a possible response
Whenever someone joins now, we explain the routine. Last year, we gave a leaflet every time a newcomer arrived. People usually find a short demonstration more useful. Whenever an instruction is unclear, they can ask us.
- Link repeated situations
- Contrast time periods
- Retrieve limited general reference
Other coherent group practices are welcome.
Take it with you
Whenever and every time link repeated situations. Keep one occasion separate from a recurring pattern. Use the tense that matches the relevant present or past setting.