Those uses are pretty interchangeable, but that’s not what I meant – I meant things like “when I was a child” vs “whenever I was a child”, or “when I was sick” vs “whenever I was sick” (talking about one specific instance of being ill).
Yeah but through context you can figure out what the original intent was. Imo that’s the main beauty of the English language. You can figure out three meaning purely through context most of the time.
I think it’s an American thing. I see and hear “whenever” used by them a lot when they mean “when”, too - it’s just one of those differences I guess!
I mean they’re pretty interchangeable.
“I’ll get to it when I can”
“I’ll get to it whenever I can”
Granted there are times they’re not interchangeable.
“When do you want this done?” “Whenever”
“When do you want this done?” “When”
But in general they can be swapped and the same information is conveyed.
Those uses are pretty interchangeable, but that’s not what I meant – I meant things like “when I was a child” vs “whenever I was a child”, or “when I was sick” vs “whenever I was sick” (talking about one specific instance of being ill).
Yeah but through context you can figure out what the original intent was. Imo that’s the main beauty of the English language. You can figure out three meaning purely through context most of the time.
Sure but I’m not saying it’s completely impossible to understand. We’re just talking about unusual language usage.
Fair enough