a great deal of time

[learning_grenglish]

I am spending a great deal of time in this forum.

I understood, the "a great deal of time" as, "I often visits this forum".

Am I right?

Please help me.

 

[hly2004]

Hi:
a great deal of time= you spent much time
a lot of times= you often visit

 

[Trisia]

Good going, hly!

Yes, I agree. A great deal of time means you spend a lot of time. It doesn't say anything about the number of visits. You could stay for a week and never leave, and it would be just one visit!

(I often visits this forum)

 

[learning_grenglish]

Hi:
a great deal of time= you spent much time
a lot of times= you often visit

I think, you mean :

If I say, "I am spending a lot of time in this forum", it will be understood as, "I often log in and log out in this forum".

Am I right?

 

[hly2004]

Hi:

If you often log into and log out of the forum.
You visit the forum very often.

But, you can also log in and out many times in a minute.
So, "log in" or "log out" does not mean you stay here for a long time.

If you say "spend a lot of time here", perhaps you can log in in the morning , and spend a whole day learning English here before you log out at night.
Another case where you can say "spend a lot of time here" is when you have been visited once every a few days in the past 5 years.
A lot of /a great deal of time means the length of time is long.
"often" means "frequency", "how often".

You're free to ask if you don't understand.

Best wishes

 

[learning_grenglish]

Thank you I got it.
Now, I wonder, whether it is "a lot of time" or "a lot of times". In your post #2, you wrote "a lot of times". Is it a typo?

 

[hly2004]

Hi:
(1)"a lot of times" and (2)"a lot of time" are different.

(1) means "very often"
For example:
I have been there a lot of times.
I go there twice a day, one time in the morning, the second time in the afternoon.
So, I know how to get there better than anyone else.

(2) means "how long"
I spent a lot of time learning English each day, sometimes nearly 18 hours a day.