Examples of Adverbs of Frequency and How to Use It 

The adverb is a part of speech that modifies a verb, an adjective, and another adverb. An adverb is actually everywhere.  We have examples of adverbs used in literature, speeches, and even in a normal conversation. Thus, it signifies its importance in the field of English language.

There are 8 kinds of adverbs. These are the adverb of place, time, intensity, manner, negation, purpose, affirmation, and frequency. These examples of adverbs have different functions to play and rules to live with. Just like one of the most common adverbs- the adverb of frequency.

In this lesson, we will learn about the adverb of frequency, the different examples of adverbs of frequency, its usage, and the rules we need to follow in using this kind of adverb. Let’s start the mouse rolling.

What is Adverb of Frequency?

The adverb of frequency, from the name itself, describes how often the action happens. It does not matter if it deals with a definite span of time or the opposite, indefinite time span.

The examples of adverbs of frequency are divided into two categories: the definite adverb of frequency and the indefinite adverb of frequency.

Definite adverb of frequency

Definite category focuses on how often something occurs in a specific time or date.

Examples of adverbs for Definite Category

Daily

Daily means the action happens every day.

Examples:

• I take the train daily.
• She delivers milk daily because it is her job.
• Study your lessons daily so that you will ace your examinations.
• Taking a bath daily and eating your breakfast is good for your health.

Weekly

Weekly defines as actions that are done every week.

Examples:

• Let us do this meeting weekly.
• She gets a weekly dose of massage is good for your well-being.
• I go to the church weekly so that my sins will be cleansed.

Monthly

Monthly means that the action occurs every month.

Examples:

• She is paying the dues monthly.
• I do monthly medical check-up because I was diagnosed to have high blood pressure.
• The plumber keeps on reminding us to check our pipes monthly.

Annually/ yearly

One of the examples of adverbs is annually or yearly, and it refers to actions only happen every year.

Examples:

• It is fun so let us all do it annually.
• We meet annually for our leaders’ congress.
• Christmas is a yearly event so we need to celebrate it.

Examples of adverbs for Indefinite Category

Indefinite means focuses on how often something occurs at any time or no specific time or date.

Take note that these examples of adverbs have almost similar definitions however they just vary with the degree of how often they happen. We can plot it out with the use of percentage.

Always- 100%

Always has the highest percentage because the action habitually happens, it would be the perfect counterpart of the definite category.

Examples:

• I always go to church every Sunday.
• My father always cooks steak for us.
• She always attends yoga class because it relaxes her.
• She always says nice things about him, especially when he’s around.
• Her mentor always speaks to him in a loud voice because he’s hard of hearing.

Usually- 90%

This is almost similar to always nevertheless the actions occur quite lesser than always.

Example:

• I usually eat rice for lunch.
• I think shoes are usually cheaper than bags.
• We usually visit the hospital for my mother’s check-up.
• Children usually enjoy visits to the zoo and planetarium.
• I’m usually quite tired the next day because of my cooking lessons.

Normally/generally-80%

Normally is closer than usually and farther than always.

Examples:

• I normally wake up before my brother.
• Normally, we’d be doing much better than this.
• He doesn’t normally arrive until 12 o’ clock because he moves slowly.
• She’d never thought desire could conquer her normally rigid self-control.
• We are normally quite busy at this time of day, but today for some reason it’s very quiet.

Often/frequently-70%

Often defines as the action takes place many times but not all the time.

Examples:

• Do you do that often?
• We would often go swimming in the river.
• They often go to the movies together not until today.
• My sister often cries for a reason that she is a hormonal being.
• He is often absent from school so the teacher is a little bit worried about him.

Sometimes- 50%

Sometimes connotes an activity can happen occasionally, or time to time but not all the time.

Examples:

• That clumsiness happens sometimes.
• He sometimes visits me whenever he is bored.
• She is sometimes at a loss for words when she’s nervous.
• Sometimes I do buy expensive stuff, but I still find it impractical.
• I sometimes regret meeting you because you’re a horrible person.

Occasionally-30%

The adverb occasionally may happen in an irregular interval or it happens sometimes but not too often.

Examples:

• We meet occasionally at the spa.
• The speaker occasionally referred to his notes.
• I occasionally watch horror movies because I’m easily scared.
• Their children occasionally visit them, so they decided to go to them.
• Occasionally, teachers should allow their students to blow off some steam.

Rarely-20%

Rarely befalls to actions that happen almost never or on a rare occasion.

Examples:

• I rarely put on a make-up.
• She rarely eats meat nowadays.
• I rarely get angry due to I promote inner peace.
• Some people rarely bring cash, they rather prefer credit cards.
• The ballerina used to practice often but now she rarely dances because of the injury.

Never-0%

Never means that there is no action happens.

Examples:

• Just pretend these things never happened.
• The boy should never regret anything he has done.
• She is never happy about the result of the contest.
• I will never eat there anymore because everything is horrible.
• She never recovered from the trauma of last year’s accident.

The position of the adverb in the sentence

The usual format of an adverb of frequency goes before the main verb, except with To Be verbs.

Subject + adverb of frequency + verb

Examples:

• I hardly ever help my mom in the kitchen.
• She always loves to travel abroad alone.
• She never recovered from the trauma of last year’s accident.
• I occasionally watch horror movies because I’m easily scared.
• I usually sleep during class hours because I have a part-time job in the evening.

When using to be verbs (is, was, were, are, am), the adverb of frequency comes right after the verb.

Subject + to be verb + Adverb of Frequency

Examples:

• She is always cooking pasta.
  
• We are always helping the children from the orphanage.
• She is often called as Ms. Congeniality because she is very amiable.
• I am usually quite tired the next day because of my cooking lessons and salsa dancing class.

When we use an auxiliary verb (have, will, must, might, could, would, can, etc.), the adverb is placed between the auxiliary and the main verb. This is also true to be

Subject + Auxiliary Verb + Adverb of Frequency + Main Verb

Examples:

• I can usually cook an intricate dish.
• The girl would sometimes call him at work.
• She has always given us the chills whenever she sings.
• My parents have never eaten at the fancy restaurant beside my apartment.

Examples of Adverbs of Frequency Rules

The adverbs of frequency connote repeated actions or habitual occurrence hence it uses the present simple tense.

Incorrect: I washed my car daily.

Correct: I wash my car daily.

Incorrect: She always visited her grandparents.

Correct: She always visits her grandparents.

Examples:

• The doctor does his rounds daily.
• My brother and I play basketball weekly.
• Teacher Joe sleeps occasionally during class hours.

When a sentence has only one verb, place the adverb of frequency at the middle of the sentence. It is in the middle so that it is positioned right after the subject but before the verb.

Incorrect: I drink usually at the bar.

Correct: I usually drink at the bar

Incorrect: The boy washes rarely his car.

Correct: The boy rarely washes his car.

Examples:

• She always loves to travel abroad alone.
•  He usually takes the bus due to the bus stop is near his house.
• I occasionally watch horror movies because I’m easily scared.

The position of adverb of frequency if there is more than one verb is before the main verb.

Examples:

• She is always cooking pasta.
• They have often visited Italy and Europe.
• The girl would usually call him at work.
• We would often go swimming in the river.
• We are always helping the children at the orphanage.

When using an example of adverbs of frequency in forming a question or in a negating form, position it before the main verb.

Examples:

• Is she always late?
• Do they always cook pasta?
• Are you occasionally go there?
• Do you usually get up so late?
• Did they often visit their grandparents at the farm?

The verbs have, has, and had are in past participle tense if used as auxiliary verbs.

Examples:

• She has hardly ever tried coconut water.
• I have never eaten a scorpion nor a cricket.
• We had never intended to ruin your night.
• Our friends have hardly ever believed our current situation.

However, has, have, and had are regular verbs when they are not used with past participle.

• He seldom has Maths classes.
• I always have my lunch at the school’s cafeteria.
• We often had lunch late in the afternoon because it seems fun.

Occasionally, frequently, usually, often and sometimes can be put in the middle and in the end however it is better if it is at the beginning of the sentence to sound more firm or dignified.

• Occasionally, I go to the beach.
• Sometimes he visits his grandma.
• Usually, they drink coffee in the mornings.

The verbs do, does, and did are auxiliary verbs only when they are used in questions or negatives.

• Do you often go to the cinema?
• He doesn’t always eat grapes.

In other cases, do, does and did are regular verbs:

• She never sleeps at home.
• They rarely did their chores.

If the auxiliary verb is negative the adverb of frequency might go before or after it:

• He doesn’t usually cook at home.
• He usually doesn’t cook at home.
• They don’t often go to the cinema.
• They often don’t go to the cinema.

Adverbs of Frequency Quiz

Instruction: Choose the best answer to complete each sentence. Enjoy!