Basic English Grammar: Adverb – 2

What are adverbs of frequency?

Adverbs that change or qualify the meaning of a sentence by telling us how often or how frequently something happens are defined as adverbs of frequency.

An adverb of frequency sounds like an adverb of time. Adverbs of frequency always describe how often something occurs, either in definite or indefinite terms. An adverb that describes definite frequency or periodicity is one such as weekly, daily, or yearly. An adverb describing indefinite frequency doesn’t specify an exact time- frame; examples are sometimes, often, rarely, ‘hardly’, ‘usually’, ‘often’, ‘daily’, ‘normally’, ‘everyday’, etc.

These simple rules for adverbs of frequency will help you to use them correctly:

• Adverbs of frequency are often used to indicate routine or repeated activities, so they are often used with the simple present tense.
• If a sentence has only one verb, place the adverb of frequency in the middle of the sentence so that it is positioned after the subject but before the verb.

For example: Tom never flies. He always takes the bus.

• When a sentence contains more than one verb, place the adverb of frequency before the main verb.

For example: They have often visited Europe.

• When using an adverb of frequency in the negative or in forming a question, place it before the main verb.
• For example: Do you usually get up so late?