My friends make me fat - frequency adverbs

Frequency adverbs

Hi, welcome to another lesson from New English Academy. My name’s Giles Parker and today we’re going to be looking at frequency adverbs. The title of the listening and reading text is ‘My friends make me fat’. The grammar is aimed at beginners but the language is natural so it can be used by any level. Don’t forget, you can download the transcript and access great online games and activities at the website too. First, I’m going to talk about frequency adverbs, then we’ll listen to them or read them, if you like, in context in the comprehension text.

When you want to say how often something happens, or how many times a day or a week or a month, etc, something happens, you can use frequency adverbs. Maybe you remember how adverbs kind of give extra information about the verb – they describe how the verb happens. Well, frequency adverbs describe how often the verb happens. So;

· 100% of the time use always

· 60-75% of the time use often, usually, frequently or regularly

· 50% of the time use sometimes means

· 15-30% of the time use rarely, infrequently, hardly ever or not often

· 0% of the time use never

When you use frequency adverbs, don’t forget they usually come before the verb, just like in this sentence just now. So for example, you can say;

· I always catch the bus to work.

But, as is often the case in English there are exceptions. Usually and sometimes are frequency adverbs that can go before the verb OR after the verb. For example;

· I sometimes catch the bus to work.

Or,

· I catch the bus to work, sometimes.Â

Try it with usually, too.

But don’t forget, frequency adverbs come after the verb be, so for example;

· That guy, he’s always late to work on Mondays.

When you want to ask about frequency, just ask either ‘How often do you do something?’, or ‘Do you ever do something?’

When you want to make the negative, put it before the frequency adverb, which of course comes before the verb. So for example;

· I don’t usually take the bus to work.

Or

· I don’t often write to mum.

Using negatives with frequency adverbs that are themselves kind of negative, i.e. less than 50% is a bit odd. For example, people don’t usually say

· I don’t rarely do this.

OK, to summarise,

1) frequency adverbs say how often or what percentage of the time the verb happens.

2) the adverb usually comes before the verb except for….usually and sometimes which can also come after the verb. And

3) frequency adverbs come after the be verb.

So, on to the text. The topic is about how sometimes our friends have a big effect on our health – sometimes it is a good effect, but often it is a bad effect. Listen to the text and try to find all the examples of frequency adverbs. Don’t forget to download the transcript at our website, New English Academy .com and check out the games, tests and great online learning activities.

Comprehension text – My friends make me fat

There is a lot of concern in the world about our health. Questionnaires and information about what we eat, how we exercise and how we feel jump out at us from newspapers and magazines, TV shows and the Internet. These infomercials often give us information about how we are unhealthy, and what we can do to be healthier. They also often want to sell us a product – something we can pay for that will make us healthier.

The usual reasons we are not healthy are that we hardly ever exercise, or we often eat fast-food. Maybe we sometimes skip breakfast during the week. Or we never drink enough water during the day but usually drink soft-drinks or sodas that are full of sugar.

These infomercials often ask a few basic questions to help you see your problem. Here’s an example. Answer the following questions with one of these answers: Never, hardly ever; sometimes; often; usually and always. If the question asks “How often do you…” then answer with either: every day; five times a week; three times a week; once a week; or never.

Question 1: Do you eat breakfast every day?

Question 2: Do you eat fruit and vegetables every day?

Question 3: Do you drink soft drinks or sodas every day?

Question 4: Do you smoke every day?

Question 5: Do you drink alcohol?

Question 6: How often do you eat fast-food, snacks or micro-wave TV dinners?

Question 7: How often do you exercise a week?

Question 8: How often do you walk a week?

Question 9: Do you sleep well every night?

Question 10: Do you look forward to going to work every day?

Question 11: How often do have quiet time for yourself?

Question 12: How often do you hang out with your friends?

The last question is a surprising question. This is because our friends often influence how we live. They sometimes influence what and how we eat, and if we get any exercise at all. So if our friends are not very healthy, then there is a good chance we won’t be very healthy either. On the other hand, if our friends eat well and exercise regularly then there is a chance we will too.

A typically unhealthy person has friends who don’t often exercise, who rarely walk anywhere, who usually prefer to drink caffeine or soft drinks than to drink water. Maybe they hang out together in front of the TV three or four times a week and eat snacks because it is easier and cheaper than cooking a proper balanced meal. Maybe they are often slightly stressed out at work and at home. Maybe they usually spend more time looking after their family at home and rarely spend time looking after themselves.

On the other hand, your healthy friends will encourage you to go for a walk or to join them in some kind of exercise. They’ll often suggest you eat a bit more fruit, or try the salad instead of the bag of chips a few times a week. They’ll usually tell you that you need to take time for yourself to just relax and unwind from the day.

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Even though our friends can help us be healthier the decision to be healthy is ours. And often what happens is that we don’t make the right choice or we don’t stick to our guns. Instead we continue with our usual bad old habits. Having healthy friends might not be enough. Sometimes we need to just bite the bullet and take control of our lives ourselves.Â