Life
Pre-intermediate Unit 1a(2)
Adverbs and expressions of frequency
The Culture Are these true or false?
Quiz 1 You don’t need to arrive for dinner on time in the UK. Guests
are often late.
2 In the UK, the Queen celebrates her birthday twice a year.
3 The Chinese New Year is always on the same day of the year.
4 On her fifteenth birthday, a girl often receives gold in Colombia.
5 The Irish always celebrate St Patrick’s Day on 27th March.
6 In Russia, people don’t often give presents on 25th December.
Christmas Day for them is on 7th January.
5F (St Patrick’s Day is on 17th March.) 6T
Answers: 1F 2T (She has an official birthday and her normal birthday.) 3F (The date changes from year to year.) 4T
Presentation
Use adverbs and expressions of frequency to say how • after the verb to be
often something happens. You often use these adverbs Guests are often late.
and expressions with the present simple tense.
Guests aren’t often late.
Adverbs of frequency Are guests often late?
These are some of the most common adverbs of frequency:
Expressions of frequency
0% never
hardly ever/rarely once a(n)
twice a(n) hour / day / week / month / year
not often
three times a(n)
occasionally/sometimes
often every hour / day / week / month / year /
Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday /
normally/usually
six months / five years
100% always
The Irish always celebrate St Patrick’s Day on 17th March. The Irish celebrate St Patrick’s Day every year.
We play football once a week.
Position of adverbs of frequency
Position of expressions of frequency
Adverbs of frequency normally come …
Expressions of frequency can come at the beginning or
• before the main verb
the end of the sentence:
The Irish always wear green on St Patrick’s Day. Every year they celebrate St Patrick’s Day.
Russian people don’t often give presents on They celebrate St Patrick’s Day every year.
25th December.
(don’t say They every year celebrate St Patrick’s Day.)
Do Russian people often give presents on 25th December?
1 © National Geographic Learning
Pre-intermediate Unit 1a(2)
Exercises
Exercises
1 A hotel interviewed the guests about meals. Look at the results and then choose
the correct words in the summary.
1 How often do you use the hotel room service for your meals?
5% Once a day ....................
Every meal .................... 45% Not often ....................
50%
2 Which do you normally prefer for breakfast?
85% Full English breakfast ....................
Continental breakfast .................... 3%
12% Don’t eat breakfast ....................
3 Do you ever eat at the restaurant in the evening?
6% Sometimes ....................
Yes, every night .................... 69%
25% No, I usually eat out ....................
Five percent of the guests 1 always / often use room service for meals and 45% eat in their rooms
2 every / all day. The rest 3 hardly ever / sometimes use room service. Only 3% 4 rarely / never eat
breakfast and most people 5 occasionally / usually have the Continental breakfast instead of the
Full English breakfast. Most people 6 always / normally eat out in the evening. Only 6% 7 always /
sometimes eat there.
2 Complete the second sentence so that it has 3 Add the adverbs and expressions of
the same meaning as the first sentence. frequency in brackets to the sentences.
Use the phrases in the box.
always don’t normally don’t often
hardly ever once a year twice a week
1 My brother is never on time. Cultural Habits
My brother is late. Breakfast habits around the world
2 Spanish people rarely eat before nine usually
in the evening. 1 What we eat for breakfast is the same
Spanish people eat every day. (usually)
before nine in the evening. 2 In Madagascar, people eat dried beef. (a few
3 We have English lessons on Mondays times a week)
and Thursdays.
3 Canadians put maple syrup on their morning
We have English lessons pancakes. (always)
4 My family live in different cities, but we always
meet on the first of January. 4 British people start the day without either
tea or coffee. (rarely)
My family live in different cities, but we meet
5 Italians drink a cup of coffee before they do
5 People in my country usually offer tea to a visitor. anything else. (normally)
People in my country offer 6 Most breakfast tables around the world include
coffee to a visitor. bread. (every day)
6 My schedule is busy, so I often work at weekends.
My schedule is busy, so I have
a free weekend.
2 © National Geographic Learning
