Adverbials -3"

[الاستاذة أمالVIP Member]

-Adverbials of time:
1)Time and dates:
-We use phrases with prepositions as time adverbials:
-We use at with:
-clock times: at seven o’clock - at nine thirty - at fifteen hundred hours
mealtimes:
: at breakfast - at lunchtime - at teatime
… and in these phrases:
at night - at the weekend - at Christmas - at Easter
- We use in with:

-seasons of the year: in spring/summer/autumn/winter - in the spring /summer/autumn/winter
-years and centuries:
: in 2009 -in 1998 - in the twentieth century
-months:
- in January/February/March etc.
[b]parts of the day:
-in the morning - in the afternoon - in the evening.

• We use on with:
days: on Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday etc - on Christmas day - on my birthday.
dates:
-on the thirty first of July - on June 15th

Note: We say [b]at night when we are talking about all of the night:

-When there is no moon it is very dark at night.
-He sleeps during the day and works at night.

but we say in the nightwhen we are talking about a short time during the night:

-He woke up twice in the night.
-I heard a funny noise in the night.

-We use the adverb ago with the past simple to sayhow long before the time of speaking something happened:

-I saw Jim about [b]three weeks ago.
-We arrived a few minutes ago.

-We can put time phrases together:

-We will meet next week at six o’clock on Monday.
-I heard a funny noise at about eleven o’clock last night.
-It happened last week at seven o’clock on Monday night.

2)How long:

-We use for to say how long:

-We have been waiting for twenty minutes.
-They lived in Manchester for fifteen years.

-We use since with the present perfect or the past perfect to say when something started:

-I have worked here [b]since December.
-They had been watching since seven o’clock in the morning.

-We use [b]from …to/until to say when something [b]starts and finishes:

-They stayed with us from Monday to Friday.
-We will be on holiday from the sixteenth until the twentieth.

3)How often:
-The commonest adverbials of frequency are:

always	never	normally	occasionally	often
rarely	seldom	sometimes	usually

-We usually put adverbials of frequency in front of the main verb:

-We often spend Christmas with friends.
-I have neverenjoyed myself so much.

-but they usually come after the verb be:

-He was always tired in the evening.
-We are never late for work.

-We use the adverbial a lot to mean often or frequently. It comes at the end of the clause:

-We go to the cinema a lot.

but [b]before another time adverbial:

-We go to the cinema [b]a lot at the weekend.

-We use [b]much with a negative to mean not often:

-We don’t go out much. (= We don’t go out often)

-We use how often or ever to ask questions about frequency. How often comes at the beginning of the clause:

-How often do you go to the cinema?
-How often have you been here?

-ever comes before the main verb:

-Do you ever go to the cinema at the weekend?
-Have you ever been there?

-Longer frequency phrases, like every year or three times a day usually come at the end of the clause:

-I have an English lesson twice a week.
-She goes to see her mother every day

4)Already, still, yet and no longer:
-We use still to show that something continues up to a time in the past present or future. It goes in front of the main verb:

-The children still enjoyed playing games.
-They are [b]still living next door.
-We will still be on holiday.

… or after the present simple or the past simple of be:

-Her grandfather is still alive.
-They were still unhappy.

-We use already to show that something has happened sooner than it was expected to happen. Like still, it comes before the main verb:

-The car is OK. I’ve already fixed it.
-It was early but they were already sleeping.

… or after the present simple or past simple of the verb be:

-It was early but we were already tired.
-We are alreadylate.

-We use yet in a negative or interrogative
clause, usually with perfective aspect (especially in British English),
to show that something has not happened by a particular time. yet comes at the end of the sentence:

-It was late, but they hadn’t arrived yet.
-Have you fixed the car yet?
-She won’t have sent the email yet.