Lesson IV

FREQUENCY, TIME, PLACE,

NUMBERS
AND
RELATED TOPICS
p. 52

they are used to express approximately

how many times a customary or habitual
action or condition is repeated. They are
not generally used with continuous tenses.
Here are the common ones listed in order
of declining frequency:
Affirmatives: always, usually,
frequently, often, sometimes and
occasionally.
Negatives: seldom, rarely, hardly ever
and never.

adverbs
in affirmative statements is determined by the
verb. They immediately precede the verb in
simple present statements unless the verb is be,
in which case they follow.
(FA) VERB
(FA)
SUBJEC
. A COMPLMENT
T
his

Bill
often
calls up
.mother after nine p.m
The charge
is
usually less
B..at
Some
nightof the affirmative frequency adverbs,

particularly sometimes, also appear at the

beginnings and ends of sentences. Not all
.frequency words fit this pattern, however
Sometimes Bill calls up his mother in the
.morning

C. Negative statements of frequency are of two

kinds: those negated by frequency adverbs, and
. those negated by not
.e.g
.Bill doesn't often call his mother in the morning
.Bill seldom calls his mother in the morning
.She isn't usually at home then
.She is hardly ever at home then
D. Yes/no questions about frequency
.e.g
?Does Bill ever call his mother in the morning
?Is she frequently at home then

E. Information questions
.e.g
Who sometimes calls his mother in the
? morning
.Bill
? When does Bill usually call his mother
.At night
Where does Mrs. Brown usually go in the
? morning
.To the store
? What does she usually do there
.She buys food

Time at the beginning. In the( 3)

sentence patterns we have examined so far, all

the time expressions are in the same position-at
the end of the sentence. When a speaker wishes
to emphasize time, or when he feels a need for
variety in his sentence patterns, he puts the time
.expression at the beginning
.On Saturday nights
.On Tuesdays
At noon

Jack goes to the movies

Bill doesn't get up early
there is always a long line in the

.cafeteria
Right now

the students are having an

.English lesson
.Today

they are studying prepositions

Place at the beginning. A place expression( 4)

may also come at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis
or variety, though this is a less frequent pattern. It happens
.most often in the presence of expletive there. e.g
.In the drug store there is a public telephone
.In the reference room there are many encyclopedias
.There
the students do their assignments
.There
Jack studies in the afternoon
When there at the beginning refers to a place previously
mentioned, the rest of the sentence pattern is normal, as in
the illustrations above. However, when there refers to
something being pointed to, the rest of the sentence is
.inverted. The same thing happens with here. e.g
Place + verb + subject
.There is the bookstore
.Here come the Aliens
.There goes the bus

There are two kinds of numbers:( 5)

cardinal and ordinal. Cardinal numbers are
used in counting and reckoning. Ordinal
numbers
indicate
rank.
See
p.55
b. When a noun is modified by both an ordinal
. and a cardinal, the ordinal always comes first
Ordinal
.e.g

+ Cardinal +

noun

.The first five exercises are easy

.The second five exercises are hard

More about Time( 6)

a. Hours and minutes

six / six o'clock 6:00
six ten / ten (minutes ) after six 6:10
six fifteen / a quarter after six / a quarter 6:15
past six
six thirty / half past six 6:30
six forty-five / a quarter to seven / a quarter 6:45
of seven
six fifty-five / five ( minutes) to seven / five 6:55
(minutes) of seven
noon / midnight 12:00
b. Days of the week are capitalized and
should be spelled correctly, though some of
.them are difficult

c. Months and seasons differ in different parts of the

:world. In the United States they are roughly as follows
Winter

Fall /
autumn

Summer

Spring

December
January
February

September
October
November

June
July
August

March
April
May

When writing a date on a letter or assignment, write the complete name of the
.month and be sure it is spelled correctly

d. Dates are generally read as ordinal numbers. Years

.are expressed in groups of ten
January 1, 1975 = January first nineteen seventy-five
July 4, 1776 = July fourth seventeen seventy-six
In the United States, abbreviated dates are written with the month first. This is
just opposite to the practice in most parts of the world, including Britain. It
.sometimes causes confusion for people who are not aware of the difference

.means March 4, 1972 3/4/72

.means June 9, 1960 6/9/60

.e. Prepositions used with times and dates

EXAMPLES

RULES

in May, in September, in July

in 2004, in 1970, in 1981
in winter, in spring, in summer
in the morning, in the afternoon, in the
evening

in before months. 1
years
Seasons
Special
expressions

on Friday, on Tuesday, on Monday

on July 4th, on the 25th of December

on before days of the .2

week
Dates

Note/
When
day,atand
all occur
inofone
at half past
six, at time,
seven thirty,
5:15,date
at before
the time
day. 3
at
8:00
Special
sentence,
the time precedes the
day and no
at noon, at night, at midnight
: preposition is used before theexpressions
date
e.g. The meeting is at 2 o'clock on Tuesday,
.August 15

More about place( 7)

a. Addresses are written with the number of the
building first, followed by the street, city, state,
and ZIP code. The ZIP 2 code is a five-digit
number, and every address in the United States
has one. It is important to include the ZIP code
.for speedy delivery of mail
South Wood Street 5629
Chicago, Illinois 60636
Numbers are read either as a series of cardinals
or in sets of tens. Zero is pronounced as the
.letter o
two-o-four = 204
nine fourteen = 914
.fifty-six twenty-nine or five six two nine = 5629

b. Prepositions used with places

EXAMPLES

RULES

in Europe, in Asia
in Brazil, in Iraq
in California, in Arizona
in New York, in Chicago

in before Continents. 1
Countries
States

on Main Street, on Broadway

on before streets .2

at 5629 South Wood Street

at before numbers and. 3

buildings

Cities and Towns

Two-word Verbs( 9)
Two-word verbs used in connection with
:telephoning are
call up a (someone) : telephone
pick up (something) : lift with the fingers
hang up: place the telephone receiver on
its hook
.GO TO P. 69 EX. a., b., and c

Transitive versus intransitive( 10)

One of the two-word verbs we learned never takes an
object. Some of the others must have an object to
complete their meaning. Still others are used both
ways. As we shall learn later, some transitive two-word
verbs pattern in a peculiar way when their objects are
.pronouns-but let's leave that for another lesson
INTRANSITIVE
never has an )
(object

BOTH
may or may not)
(have an abject

Get up

Call up
Hang up

TRANSITIVE
always has on)
(object
look up something
pick out something
pick up something

The End of Lesson IV