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Frequency Adverbs

There is a standard set of adverbs (words that modify verbs) that describe how often something happens, from not at all (never) to all the time (always). Let's see some examples from Yabla English.

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I've never done that in my life.

Caption 70, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four - BBC TV Movie

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I very rarely have a day off.

Caption 11, Ask Jimmy Carter - Another Interview with Sharon Stone

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Do you have someone who can ... take the air out of your tires occasionally?

Captions 40-41, Will Smith - Enemy of the State

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...I sometimes will write it on a piano.

Caption 27, Bee and Flower - Interview

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Whales feed at depth in waters that are often pitch dark.

Caption 19, Sustainable Human - How Whales Change Climate

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I usually leave it to simmer a little bit.

Caption 85, Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives - Pam's Trinidadian Caribbean Kitchen

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It is always held in Leicester Square.

Caption 25, In London with Lauren - Piccadilly Circus

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The adverbs are written in bold above in increasing order of frequency: never, rarely, occasionally, sometimes, often, usually, always.

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Further Learning
Search for examples of frequency adverbs on Yabla English to see them used in a real-world context. 

Irregular Verbs - Part 2

Irregular Verbs - Part 1

Irregular Verbs - Part 3

In last month's first part, we saw how a regular verb conjugates into the past tense and past participle by simply adding -ed to the end of the infinitive: ask/asked, talk/talked, watch/watched etc. Irregular verbs, on the other hand, each follow their own set of rules of conjugation. There are, however, some more basic patterns that can help you remember how to conjugate some of these irregular verbs. 

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Some verbs switch their central vowels to an "o" in the past and past participle, such as the verbs "to break" (broke, broken),"to choose" (choose, chosen), "to forget" (forgot, forgotten), "to freeze" (froze, frozen), "to get" (got, gotten), "to speak" (spoke, spoken), "to tear" (tore, torn) "to wake" (woke, woken) and "to wear" (wore, worn). Here is the verb "to steal" in the past and past participle:

 

Then they took you away, stole you out of my life

Caption 41, Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans

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They've stolen my heart away. 

Captions 49-50, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four - BBC TV Movie

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Many verbs with "ee" as the central vowels change to a single "e" in past and past participle, and these are made easier in that the past and past participle forms are the same: "to bleed" (bled), "to feel" (felt), "to keep" (kept), "to lead" (led), and "to meet" (met). A few more examples using the verbs "to sleep" and "to feed":
 

The Frog slept all night and it was hardly light.

Caption 8, Fairy Tales - The Frog King

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They have fed quite well.

Caption 53, Nature & Wildlife - Search for the Ghost Bear

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Further Learning
Find examples of the verbs listed above in past and past participle and learn them by searching for examples on Yabla English to see them used in a real-world context.