Adverbs of frequency

When you use it

You use adverbs of frequency to say how often something happens: I always have breakfast, Tom is usually late, we never argue. They belong with the present simple, because that is the tense for habits. The meaning is easy. What learners get wrong is the position, because English puts these adverbs in one fixed place and the place depends on the verb.

How it is formed

The adverbs form a scale from all the time to none of the time. The percentages are only a guide.

The position follows one rule: the adverb goes before an ordinary verb, but after the verb be. If there is a helper verb (don't, doesn't, can), the adverb goes between the helper and the main verb.

The logic is that the adverb attaches to the first verb in the sentence: if that verb is be, the adverb follows it; otherwise the adverb comes in front.

Sometimes, usually, normally and occasionally can also go at the very beginning or the very end of a sentence for emphasis: Sometimes we eat out. Always, never, rarely and seldom cannot move in this way; they stay in the middle position.

Never is negative by itself, so the verb stays positive: I never drink coffee, not I don't never drink. Ever is the question form, used to ask whether something happens at all: Do you ever travel by train?

Longer expressions of frequency such as every day, once a week, twice a month, three times a year are phrases, not single adverbs. They go at the end of the sentence, or sometimes at the beginning, but never in the middle position.

Examples

• I always have breakfast at seven.
• Tom is usually late on Mondays.
• Anna often goes to the gym after work.
• We sometimes watch a film on Fridays.
• She never answers her phone at work.
• Do you ever travel by train?
• Tom doesn't usually cook at home.
• We go to the cinema once a month.

Common mistakes

• ✗ I go always to work by bus. Always I go to work by bus.
  ✓ I always go to work by bus.
  In Ukrainian and Russian the adverb can go almost anywhere: Я завжди їжджу на роботу and Я їжджу на роботу завжди are both fine. English fixes the position. With an ordinary verb the adverb stands directly in front of the verb, and always cannot start the sentence.
• ✗ I always am tired. She never is at home.
  ✓ I am always tired. She is never at home.
  Be is the exception. The adverb follows it. A useful check: with be, the adverb sits exactly where not would sit (I am not tired, I am always tired).
• ✗ I never don't eat meat. I don't never go there.
  ✓ I never eat meat. I never go there.
  Ukrainian and Russian require the double negative: Я ніколи не їм м'яса / Я никогда не ем мяса. English allows only one negative word in the clause. Never is that word, so the verb stays positive.
• ✗ I am usually go to school on foot. She is often works late.
  ✓ I usually go to school on foot. She often works late.
  Adding the adverb does not bring be into the sentence. The present simple of an ordinary verb never has am, is or are in front of it. See the present simple lesson.
• ✗ I every day drink coffee. Tom once a week plays football.
  ✓ I drink coffee every day. Tom plays football once a week.
  Every day and once a week are phrases, and phrases of frequency go at the end of the sentence. Only the single-word adverbs take the middle position.

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