1. INTEREST

hobby ▪ game ▪ pastime

These are all words for activities that you do for pleasure in your spare time.

• interest an activity or a subject that you do or study for pleasure in your spare time:

Her main interests are music and gardening.

• hobby an activity that you do for pleasure in your spare time:

His hobbies include swimming and cooking.

• game a children’s activity when they play with toys, pretend to be somebody else, etc.; an activity that you do to have fun:

a game of cops and robbers

He was playing games with the dog.

• pastime an activity that people do for pleasure in their spare time:

Fishing is a popular pastime.

• Patterns

a popular interest/​hobby/​pastime

to have/​share interests/​hobbies

to take up/​pursue a(n) interest/​hobby

 

2. ALONE / ON YOUR OWN / BY YOURSELF / LONELY / LONE

Alone, and on your own/by yourself (which are less formal and are the normal phrases used in spoken English), describe a person or thing that is not with other people or things. They do not mean that the person is unhappy:

I like being alone in the house.

I’m going to London by myself next week.

I want to finish this on my own (= without anyone’s help).

Lone/​solitary/​single mean that there is only one person or thing there; lone and solitary may sometimes suggest that the speaker thinks the person involved is lonely:

a lone jogger in the park

long, solitary walks

Lonely (North American English also lonesome) means that you are sad because you have no friends or people to talk to:

a lonely child

Sam was very lonely when he first moved to New York.

It can also describe places or activities that make you feel lonely:

a lonely house