Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs of Frequency

Adverbs give us more information about a verb. Adverbs of frequency tell us how often an activity happens. This can be: always = 100%, or never = 0%.

Examples:

• I always walk to work.

• They usually arrive late.

• My father often forgets his birthday.

Examples

• Jenny never drinks coffee in the evening.

• I rarely drink tea in the morning.

• He sometimes wakes up early.

Subject + adverb + main verb + complement

• I always eat breakfast.

• They sometimes take a taxi.

They go after the verb ‘to be’.

• Subject + to be + adverb + main verb

• I am always late for work.

• He is often ready for work at 6 am.

• We aren’t usually hungry in the morning.

Positive

• I always take the bus into town.

• Jenny is often late for work.

Negative

• The adverb of frequency goes between the auxiliary and the main verb:

• We don’t usually watch TV after lunch.

• They can’t always wait for you.

Question

• For questions, the order is auxiliary + subject + adverb of frequency + verb:

• Do you always eat here?

• Does he usually do that?

Negative Adverbs

Negative adverbs such as never, seldom, rarely and hardly ever cannot be used in negative sentences. The following sentence is incorrect, because it has a double negative.

WRONG: The weather isn’t never sunny.

CORRECT: The weather is never sunny.

Adverbs of Definite Frequency

• Hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly

• Every second, once a minute, twice a year

• Once, twice, once or twice, three times

Adverbs of definite frequency, like all adverbs of definite time, typically go in END position:

• Most companies pay taxes yearly.

• The manager checks the toilets every hour.

• The directors meet weekly to review progress.

Sometimes, usually for reasons of emphasis or style, some adverbs of definite frequency may go at the FRONT, for example:

Every day, more than five thousand people die on our roads.