5.2 Adverbs of frequency

Els adverbis de freqüència, com always, ever, often, usually, sometimes, rarely, seldom, never, es poden col·locar en mid-position, p. ex.:

They always come early. (Sempre vénen d'hora.)

Have you ever seen a tiger? (Has vist mai un tigre?)

Do you ever go fishing? (Vas mai a pescar?)

We usually have supper outside. (Normalment sopem fora.)

Jack sometimes has to work late. (De vegades en Jack ha de treballar fins més tard.)

I rarely read the newspaper these days. (Gairebé mai no llegeixo el diari actualment.)

They are always early. (Sempre vénen d'hora.)

Her brother is often in trouble. (El seu germà sovint es fica en embolics.)

It never snows in July. (No neva mai al juliol.)

Never significa ‘mai’; és a dir, és negatiu; ever significa ‘mai’, ‘alguna vegada’, i apareix normalment en preguntes i juntament amb paraules negatives com ara not, però ever en si mateix no és negatiu.

Usually i sometimes es poden col·locar també al principi, p. ex.:

Usually we have supper outside. (Normalment sopem fora.)

Sometimes Jack has to work late. (De vegades en Jack ha de treballar fins més tard.)

Molts altres adverbis es poden col·locar també en mid-position, p. ex.:

She carefully avoided a direct answer. (Amb molta cura va evitar una resposta directa.)

You'll soon realise what the problem is. (Aviat us adonareu de quin és el problema.)

Laura really loves those cherries. (Realment a la Laura li encanten aquelles cireres.)

Walter slowly took off his wet clothes. (En Walter es va treure lentament la roba mullada.)

Aquests adverbis no es poden col·locar immediatament després del verb principal o davant d'am, is, are, was, were. Vet aquí unes quantes frases amb errors típics:

They always come early. Errors: They come always early. / Always they come early.

I rarely read the newspaper these days. Error: I read rarely the newspaper these days.

Walter slowly took off his wet clothes. / Walter took off his wet clothes slowly. Error: Walter took slowly off his wet clothes.

They are always late. Errors: They always are late. / Always they are late.

Her brother is often in trouble. Error: Her brother often is in trouble.

Els adverbis que fan referència al fet expressat per l'oració normalment van a l'inici i amb coma, p. ex.:

Fortunately, I had an extra key. (Afortunadament, tenia una clau de reserva.)

Frankly, I don't like the idea. (Francament, no m'agrada la idea.)