Professor Lori Rottenberg,



Professor Lori Rottenberg,

Thanks for your attention. I’m the ELI student. Sometimes, I am confused with the order of adv. and verb in the sentence. Particularly, when there are modal verb and auxiliary Verb appeared together in the same clause. For example, "it can be easily obtained" ,"it can easily be obtained" ,"it can be obtained easily" ,"it easily can be obtained" , which one is right in all of these clause above, and which one is native English speaking way?

Could you give an explanation this grammar in this Friday workshop?

Position of Adverbs

Adverb of Manner (e.g.: slowly, carefully, awfully)

These adverbs are put behind the direct object (or behind the verb if there's no direct object).

|subject |verb(s) |direct object |adverb |

|He |drove |the car |carefully. |

|He |drove | |carefully. |

Exercise on adverbs of manner

Adverbs of Place (e.g.: here, there, behind, above)

Like adverbs of manner, these adverbs are put behind the direct object or the verb.

|subject |verb(s) |direct object |adverb |

|I |didn't see |him |here. |

|He |stayed | |behind. |

Exercise on adverbs of place

Adverbs of Time (e.g.: recently, now, then, yesterday)

Adverbs of time are usually put at the end of the sentence.

|subject |verb(s) |indirect object |direct object |time |

|I |will tell |you |the story |tomorrow. |

If you don't want to put emphasis on the time, you can also put the adverb of time at the beginning of the sentence.

|time |subject |verb(s) |indirect object |direct object |

|Tomorrow |I |will tell |you |the story. |

Exercise on adverbs of time

Adverbs of Frequency (e.g.: always, never, seldom, usually)

Adverbs of frequency are put directly before the main verb. If 'be' is the main verb and there is no auxiliary verb, adverbs of frequency are put behind 'be'. If there an auxiliary verb, however, adverbs of frequency are put before 'be'.

|subject |auxiliary/be |adverb |main verb |object, place or time |

|I | |often |go swimming |in the evenings. |

|He |doesn't |always |play |tennis. |

|We |are |usually | |here in summer. |

|I |have |never |been |abroad. |

Exercise on adverbs of frequency

More than one adverb at the end of a sentence

If there is more than one adverb at the end of a sentence, the word order is normally:

Manner - Place - Time

Peter sang the song happily in the bathroom yesterday evening.

ADVERB PLACEMENT

|beginning of clause/sentence |usually, normally, often, frequently, sometimes and |Usually we see him at church. |

| |occasionally |Last night we went dancing. |

| |NOT: always, ever, rarely, seldom and never | |

|end of the clause/sentence |usually, normally, often, frequently, sometimes and |We’ve performed there occasionally. |

| |occasionally |Where did you eat yesterday? |

| |NOT: always, ever, rarely, seldom and never |All the bedrooms are upstairs. |

| |adverbs of time: today, every week, finally, already, soon |Have you taken the TOEFL yet? |

| |adverbs of manner (how something is done): slowly, suddenly,|Have you eaten dinner already? |

| |badly, quietly |She sang that aria very well. |

| | |He drives competently. |

|middle of sentence |

|after BE verb |adverbs of certainty: certainly, definitely, clearly, |They are definitely suited for each other. |

|after auxiliary verb |obviously, probably |They’ll probably arrive late. |

|before other verbs | |He has apparently passed the class. |

| | |They obviously forgot to read the directions. |

|after BE verb |adverbs of frequency: never, rarely, sometimes, often, |He is rarely morose. |

|after auxiliary verbs |usually, always, ever |We have never eaten Moroccan food. |

|before other verbs | |He always takes flowers to his girlfriend. |

| | |She quite often invites people for Thanksgiving. |

| | |They almost never go to the theater. |

|after BE verb |focusing adverbs: even, only, also, mainly, just |He is only five years old. |

|after auxiliary verbs |adverbs of time: already, still, yet, finally, eventually, |We don’t even know his name. |

|before other verbs |soon, last, just |We’ve already eaten dinner. |

| | |He also rents chainsaws. |

| | |I am finally ready. |

| | |He is still planning to go tonight. |

| | |We just finished painting the house. |

|after BE verb |adverbs of manner (how something is done): slowly, suddenly,|She is slowly finishing her PhD. |

|after auxiliary verbs |badly, quietly |He has carefully gathered the evidence. |

|before other verbs | |We methodically checked all the bags. |

Taken from:

Adverbs Mix

Rewrite the sentences and put the adverbs in correctly.

1. We are in London for the summer. (usually) ____________________________________

2. He walks his dog. (rarely) _____________________________________________________

3. She waited. (patiently) ________________________________________________________

4. My father goes fishing. (always) _________________________________________________

5. The phone rang. (suddenly) _____________________________________________________

6. We go skiing. (seldom) _________________________________________________

7. Cats can hear. (well) __________________________________________________________

8. I saw him. (there) _____________________________________________________________

9. The girl speaks English. (fluently) ________________________________________________

10. I have seen that film. (never) / (even) ___________________________________________

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