Global English 9

1. THE INTERVIEW
Classroom Activity

2. ASK YOUR CLASSMATES THE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS.
• What do you usually do on Saturday nights?
• How often do you see your best friend?
• Do you ever go to the theatre?
• How often do you play sport or go to the gym?
• Do you ever watch films or TV programmes in English?
• What time do you usually go to bed?
• How often do you eat at a restaurant?
• Are you sometimes late for work or school?

4. ADVERB OF FREQUENCY
• An adverb of frequency describes how often an
action happens. There are six main adverbs of
frequency that we use in English: always,
usually (or normally), often, sometimes, rarely,
and never.

5. 70-80 % 60-70 % 50 % 10-30 % 5-10 %
frequently ALMOST NEVER
ADVERB OF FREQUENCY
TABLE

6. The most common position for adverbs of frequency is between the
subject and the verb. Here are some other examples I tend to use with
them:
• Sara always goes out on Saturday evenings.
• Jane’s boyfriend usually picks her up and they drive into the city
centre.
• Ben and Emma often go for lunch together.
• In the winter Sara sometimes goes Skiing in France.

7. EXCEPTION
The exception to this rule- the verb ‘to be’. With sentences using the
verb ‘to be’, the adverb of frequency comes after the verb. For
example:
• There are always lots of people in the city centre on Saturday
nights.
• It’s often difficult to find a place to park.
• But our friends are never on time so it doesn’t matter if we’re late.

8. EXCEPTION
There are variations to this rule. For example, it’s possible to put
the adverbs ‘sometimes’ and ‘usually’ at the beginning of a
sentence:
• Sometimes she does her homework with friends.
• Usually they study on their own.

9. REMEMBER
•Follow the basic rule of putting all adverbs of
frequency between the subject and verb.
•Verb ‘to be’ is different and put the adverb
after it.

10. THE QUESTION FORM
To make questions about frequency, we normally use ‘How often…?’.
For example:
• How often do you watch films?
• How often does he play tennis?
• How often do the trains arrive late?

11. BUT IT’S ALSO POSSIBLE TO ASK QUESTIONS
SIMPLY WITH AN ADVERB OF FREQUENCY.
• Do you often come here?
• Does she always work so hard?
• Do they ever pay on time? (‘ever’ instead of ‘never’ for
questions)

12. ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY WITH MODAL
VERBS AND AUXILIARY VERBS
With Modal verbs, we put the adverb of frequency after it and
before the main verb.
For example:
• You must always try your best.
• We can usually find a seat on our train.
• They should never be rude to customers.

13. THE SAME RULE APPLIES FOR AN AUXILIARY
VERB – THE ADVERB OF FREQUENCY GOES
BETWEEN THE AUXILIARY VERB AND THE MAIN
VERB.
For example:
• I have never visited Turkey.
• He’s always taking things from my desk. It’s really annoying.
• You had rarely arrived late at work until yesterday.

14. LET’S PRACTICE
FIND THE ADVERB OF FREQUENCY IN THE
CONVERSATION ABOVE

15. COMPLETE THE RULES BY CIRCLING THE
CORRECT WORD.

16. ADD THESE WORDS TO THE TABLE.
almost never
hardly ever
occasionally often
frequently
usually
normally

17. Answer WB Focus Activities
1-3 on Page 124