Level: beginner
We use adverbials of time to describe:
- when something happens:
I saw Mary yesterday.
She was born in 1978.
I will see you later.
There was a storm during the night.
We waited all day.
They have lived here since 2004.
We will be on holiday from 1 July until 3 August.
- how often (frequency):
They usually watched television in the evening.
We sometimes went to work by car.
- Adverbials of time
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Helllo!
Could you please help me with the following: "
Can I say "I have to often work at the weekends" or "I have to work at the weekends often"? And is "Do you have to often work at the weekend?" sound correct? Could you please clarify where you put "often" in such type of sentences.
I'm always grateful for your important work and thank you for your help with this question beforehand!!!
Hi howtosay_,
Yes, you can say all those sentences, but the typical position of "often" is before the main verb ("I often have to work ...") and that's what I would recommend in formal situations (e.g. an exam) because some people may judge those other sentences to be incorrect, although people do put "often" in those positions occasionally. You can put "often" at the start of the sentence, too. As you can see, the position of "often" is quite flexible!
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
Hello Nevi,
People would understand 2, but it's not correct. Normally when the subject and auxiliary verb are removed ('I was' in this example) from the dependent time-clause, the subject of both verbs in the sentence is the same. That is not the case in this sentence because 'I' is the subject of 'was watching' and 'somebody' (a different person) is the subject of 'knocked'.
You could say 'I ate a sandwich while watching TV' or 'I ate a sandwich while I was watching TV' and both of these are correct since the same person is the subject of both verbs.
But that's not the case with the sentences you've asked about.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Rikimaru,
These time expressions can refer to a specific point in time, or, probably more commonly, a duration in time. It's the context, other more specific expressions, or our knowledge about the world that help us determine whether they refer to a point in time or a duration.
Your analysis of 'I watched TV last night' is a good example of our knowledge about TV that makes it clear that it refers to duration rather than a point in time. It could be that you watched it for one second -- a point in time rather than a duration -- but normally we'd specify this if it was the case or was important in some way.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Rikimaru,
Yes, you are right about both points. You are very good at explaining things -- nice work!
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Timmy Ferrer,
All of the sentences are grammatically correct. Some of them are simply alternatives in this context, but there are differences between some.
The speaker still doesn't feel well and it is still morning.
This has a similar meaning to the first sentence. It is a more colloquial/informal way to phrase it, but it is quite common in some dialects.
All of these have essentially the same meaning. The speaker still does not feel well and it is no longer morning.
The speaker now feels well but did not feel well earlier. It is no longer morning.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again.
Where there are alternatives with similar meanings, it's really a question of style. Certain forms might be more appropriate in a less formal context - the two continuous forms here, but none of them examples you provided are slang or exclusively used in speech.
You would not be penalised for using any of the forms in a written or even formal context, particularly given that in a piece of writing or speech the chosen form is the only one present, and there are not three alternatives to provide a contrast. Using contractions in a formal piece of writing would be a worse slip in terms of style than choosing any of these examples, for example.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Azadeh,
Adverbs are individual words. Adverbial is a broader term and includes individual words and also phrases.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team