Welcome to your Word order 2: Using Adverbs lesson! In this topic we talk about:
• Adverbs in the middle of sentences
• The rules for placing adverbs
• Positioning “All” and “Both”
• Repeating auxiliaries
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Adverbs in the middle of sentences
Some adverbs go with the verb in the middle of a sentence:
“She always shops online.”
“We were tired and we were also hungry.”
“The game will probably be postponed.”
The rules for placing adverbs
Have a look at the rules for the positioning of adverbs. These are only general rules so there are exceptions:
- If the verb is one word, the adverb usually goes before the verb.
“She shops and also works online.”
“I hardly ever play football and rarely watch it.”
“Thanks, I already have something to drink.”
Note that these adverbs also go before “Have to…”:
“She never texts me, I always have to text her first.”
- However, these adverbs go after forms of “to be”:
“I am rarely interested by football.”
“She was never late for work.”
- If the verb is two or more words, (can see, doesn’t work, will be) the adverb usually goes after the first verb:
“I can still remember my first toy.”
“She doesn’t always work at night.”
“We will never be ready on time!”
Note that the adverb “probably” is placed before a negative word:
“I probably won’t work tomorrow.” or “I will probably not work tomorrow.”
Positioning “All” and “Both”
“All” and “both” can also be placed in the same position:
“We all felt great after the game.”
“My brothers are both doctors.”
“They have all finished the race.”
“We are both going to the cinema tonight.”
Repeating auxiliaries
Sometimes we use auxiliaries instead of repeating parts of sentences. Notice that the words that we’ve studied are placed before the verb in sentences like this.
“She said she won’t be late, but she always is.” (late)
“I’ve never smoked and I never will.” (smoke)
“We said that we’ll wake up early, but we both won’t.” (wake up early)
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