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Unread Aug 5th, 2010, 07:28 am
Sue
 
Join Date: Oct 8th, 2006
Location: Milan
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Default Re: 2 confused new esl teachers

The problem with the second sentence is the position of the adverb of frequency "always". Adverbs of frequency (always, often, sometimes, occasionally, never etc) have a specific position in the sentence - and in your first sentence it's correct, in the second it's wrong.

To understand the rule you have to know that there are two types of verb : Simple verbs and complex verbs.

Simple verbs are made up of one verb only :

I like horses
I lived in Finland for a year.

Complex verbs have more than one verb - eg :

John is working in Rome this week.
I haven't seen David recently.
It can't have been working properly
etc

In any verb (or more accurately verb phrase) one verb will be the main verb - that's the verb which carries the "meaning". In the sentences above it's underlined. If there is only one, then clearly that is the main verb. If there's more than one, then it will be the final verb, and all the others are auxiliary (or "helping") verbs. In the examples, they're in italics.

Auxiliary verbs come in two types - the primary auxiliaries be, do and have don't have any "meaning", just a grammatical function. Be careful though - they can of course also be main verbs. So eg:

David has a new car : "has" has meaning - it means possesses. It's the main verb.
I have lived here for 3 years : the main verb is "live" - have as auxiliary combines with the past participle of the main verb "live" to express an event which lasts from the past to the present.


That means that in the sentence I have had my car for 3 years you have two occurrences of the verb have : the first is the auxiliary (combining with the past participle of the main verb as above) and the second the main verb with meaning (=possess).

The other type of auxiliaries are the secondary or modal auxiliaries : can/could, will/would may/might, must (and sometimes need and ought, though these can also be main verbs). These do have a meaning of their own - for example, can expresses possibility and must obligation.

Back to the question. The rule for the position of adverbs of frequency like always and never is that in simple verb phrases, or when there is only one auxiliary they are placed in front of the main verb. Look at the next examples - the main verb is underlined and the auxiliaries are in italics:

I always go to the gym on Fridays.
I always have dinner at 7.30.
I have never seen John so angry.
He's always interrupting me!
Football has always been the biggest thing in his life.

If it's clear up to now, that explains why the first of your examples is correct, and the second wrong : in the second always has been placed after the main verb rather than in front of it, thus breaking the rule.

The only exception to this is when the main verb is Be in a simple verb phrase - ie one verb only. Then always/never follow the main verb :

He's always late.
I was never so embarrassed in my life.

It does get more comlicated though, when the verb phrase gets more complex. When you get two or three auxiliaries in the verb phrase, the rule changes and the adverb goes after the first one :

I have never been asked about it.
He must always have been hoping for that to happen.


Other one-word adverbs of frequency (sometimes, often occasionally etc) follow the same rules when they are combined with the verb phrase ...

I often wonder about it.
I have occasionally seen him there.
I have sometimes been asked about it.

... but are more flexible as they can also be placed at the beginning or end of the clause :

I wonder about it often.
Sometimes I wonder about it.
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Last edited by susan53 : Aug 11th, 2010 at 07:18 am.
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