To be with adverbs of frequency

[Rachel Adams]

I read in my book "English Grammar in Context" by Michael Vince that the verb "to be" is an exception and adverbs of frequency are used after it. For example, "She is always late" is correct, but "She always is late" isn't. Later I read on the forum that both forms "I was never" and "I never was" are correct. Is it wrong to use an adverb of frequency before the verb "to be" only in the present simple?

"I was never in Germany" and "I never was in Germany". Examples from my threads.

 

[jutfrank]

I'd like to jump in before everyone else and give you a very clear teacher's answer. The rules are as follows:

Rule 1: Adverbs of frequency go directly before the main verb. Example: I sometimes arrive late.
Rule 2: When the main verb is BE, they go directly after it. Example: I'm sometimes late.

These rules concern the natural position of frequency adverbs. In order to break these rules, you need a special reason. If you don't have a special reason, follow the rules above.

 

[jutfrank]

They can go in other positions in the sentence.

Being next to the verb they modify is their natural position. When they go in other places in the sentence, it is because the speaker has a special reason.

I'm trying to keep this simple and painless.

 

[jutfrank]

I didn't mean to say that when the adverb is not next to the verb that it's unnatural.

I'm using the phrase 'natural position' to mean the default position, the resting position, the basic position, the easiest position, the simplest position, the position of least resistance, in exactly the same way that subject comes before predicate and adjective accompanies noun. This is what we mean by 'rules' of syntax—there are laws that govern how language works. It isn't really about what's most common.

Concerning what I mean by 'special reason', this is my way of explaining the forces that work upon the breaking of these rules. Adverbs can be strategically placed in various positions in a phrase to special effect—usually related to emphasis, focus, etc. It's the distance created that is how this strategic placement works.

 

[Tarheel]

Interesting. For me most natural would be:

Sometimes I'm late.

 

[jutfrank]

Interesting. For me most natural would be:

Sometimes I'm late.

That would all depend on the context. You'd need what I'm calling a 'special reason' to lead with the modifier.

As Piscean usefully picked up on, I was using perhaps confusingly the term 'natural position' in the sense of something being in its natural place. I didn't mean 'natural' in the sense of what we mean when we talk about language spoken by native speakers.

To say it again, just so I'm understood, Sometimes I arrive late is certainly natural, yes, but the adverb is not in its natural place. As a modifier, its natural place is adjacent to its head, which in the case of frequency adverbs is in direct precedence. You need a special reason to separate a modifier from the thing it's trying to modify. That reason is the effect you want to create.

 

[Phaedrus]

In order to break these rules, you need a special reason.

Just so Rachel is aware, ellipsis is one such reason, and ellipsis is often found in short answers.

A: Is she ever late?
B: She always is! (NOT: *[strike]She is always[/strike].)

A: During the war, when were you in Germany?
B: I never was. (NOT: *[strike]I was never[/strike].)

 

[jutfrank]

A useful way of thinking about the 'exception' concerning BE is to think of it in its copular function as acting like an auxiliary, in the sense that it has NICE properties. In sentences that include both auxiliary verbs and a main verb, the rule is that frequency adverbs come after the auxiliary, like this:

She has always been late.

And when there are two or more auxiliaries, the frequency adverb comes after the first and before the second, like this:

She would never have been late.

I think then a more accurate and unifying statement of rules 1 and 2 in post #2 above can be made like this:

Rule: Frequency adverbs appear directly after the first auxiliary verb, including BE as an auxiliary verb.

 

[jutfrank]

Hmm

What's the main problem with how I'm expressing the rule? Or is it that you think there isn't one? I'd welcome your own explanation or thoughts on this if you have one.

 

[Rachel Adams]

Just so Rachel is aware, ellipsis is one such reason, and ellipsis is often found in short answers.

A: Is she ever late?
B: She always is! (NOT: *[strike]She is always[/strike].)

A: During the war, when were you in Germany?
B: I never was. (NOT: *[strike]I was never[/strike].)

Is it used for emphasis? As there is an exclamation mark.

 

[Rachel Adams]

Being next to the verb they modify is their natural position. When they go in other places in the sentence, it is because the speaker has a special reason.

I'm trying to keep this simple and painless.

Yes, your explanation is definitely very clear. Thanks. Does the position of the adverb also change the meaning in the second sentence too?
For example, "When do you usually have breakfast?" is a standard position but "When do you have breakfast usually?" The second sentence I understand to mean "this isn't the usual time when you have breakfast, then when do you usually have breakfast then?" Perhaps I am wrong.

In the same way:

"What do you usually have for breakfast?" and "What do you have for breakfast usually?"

 

[Tarheel]

Bob: What do you usually have for breakfast?
Rob: Cereal with fruit. And coffee.

Bob: What do you have for breakfast usually?
Rob: What do you mean?

 

[jutfrank]

Does the position of the adverb also change the meaning in the second sentence too?
For example, "When do you usually have breakfast?" is a standard position but "When do you have breakfast usually?" The second sentence I understand to mean "this isn't the usual time when you have breakfast, then when do you usually have breakfast then?" Perhaps I am wrong.

Yes, you're more or less correct, but I wouldn't say that the second sentence changes the 'meaning', exactly. It's better to say that the second sentence has a different 'use' (use and meaning should be understood as different things). As you say, the difference in use in the second sentence is likely that the speaker wants to emphasise the word usually. This really follows the basic principle in language where we tend to move the position of certain words (not just frequency adverbs) away from their standard position either to the very beginning or very end of the sentence. The reason for doing this is usually related to emphasis, or to bringing those words into focus somehow. It's very hard to explain this in depth partly because so much also depends on your voice and how your stress those words.

 

[jutfrank]

Bob: What do you usually have for breakfast?
Rob: Cereal with fruit. And coffee.

Bob: What do you have for breakfast usually?
Rob: What do you mean?

I'll clarify what Tarheel is trying to show here.

In the second exchange, Bob uses an alternative placement of usually. This choice confuses Rob, who has to ask what Bob's 'special reason' for doing this is.

Like I said in the other post, it's extremely hard to demonstrate this in writing because so much depends on the way a speaker pronounces the misplaced word. In the case of the second exchange here, we can imagine that Bob places extra stress on the first syllable of usually.

 

[Rachel Adams]

I'll clarify what Tarheel is trying to show here.

In the second exchange, Bob uses an alternative placement of usually. This choice confuses Rob, who has to ask what Bob's 'special reason' for doing this is.

Like I said in the other post, it's extremely hard to demonstrate this in writing because so much depends on the way a speaker pronounces the misplaced word. In the case of the second exchange here, we can imagine that Bob places extra stress on the first syllable of usually.

In a sentence with a natural word order is it possible to emphasize an adverb or any word? "I usually read in the evenings." In this sentence I want to emphasize "usually". I think it's not wrong if I need to emphasize "usually" in my sentence.

If its position at the end of the sentence isn't common then at the beginning of the sentence it's probably not common either. For example,

1. "Usually I have dinner at 12." (Now I am having dinner at two)

2. "Usually I don't have dinner at two".

3. "I don't have dinner at two usually."

4. "I don't usually have dinner at two."

5. "I have dinner at 12 usually."

6. "I usually don't have dinner at two."

 

[jutfrank]

"I usually read in the evenings." In this sentence I want to emphasize "usually".

Why?

I think it's not wrong if I need to emphasize "usually" in my sentence.

What's not wrong? Why would you need to emphasise "usually"?

If its position at the end of the sentence isn't common then at the beginning of the sentence it's probably not common either.

Don't worry about what is common. All three positions are common: at the beginning, at the end, and next to the verb.

I think you should be aware that you're mixing up two issues. The first concerns the position of adverbs and the second concerns frequency adverbs in negative sentences. Forget about don't usually and focus first just on usually.

 

[Tarheel]

Rachel Adams, in my humble opinion your goal should be fluency.

As for doing things habitually, I would say:

I eat breakfast in the morning. (Not mornings.)
I take a nap in the afternoon. (Not afternoons.)
I read in the evening. (Not evenings.)

 

[Rachel Adams]

Why?

Why would you need to emphasise "usually"?

For example, I am reading a magazine and my daughter sees me and says: "Oh, you are not asleep." I reply: "I usually read before sleep." I mean she should know that. That usually happens.

Don't worry about what is common. All three positions are common: at the beginning, at the end, and next to the verb.

Do you mean "common" but not "standard"?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Jut meant COMMON: natural, accepted, not unusual.

You can assume that it's standard. If it were not standard, Jut would not suggest it. We advise students to use standard English.

All three are common, correct, natural, standard. And they all mean the same thing.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

In a sentence with a natural word order is it possible to emphasize an adverb or any word? "I usually read in the evenings." In this sentence I want to emphasize "usually". I think it's not wrong if I need to emphasize "usually" in my sentence.

If its position at the end of the sentence isn't common then at the beginning of the sentence it's probably not common either. For example,

1. "Usually I have dinner at 12." (Now I am having dinner at two)

2. "Usually I don't have dinner at two".

3. "I don't have dinner at two usually."

4. "I don't usually have dinner at two."

5. "I have dinner at 12 usually."

6. "I usually don't have dinner at two."

Moving the word "usually" doesn't change its emphasis. It has the same impact wherever you put it.