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Unit 4: The daily grind
Adverbs of frequency

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  1. 1 Nice to meet you!
  2. 2 What to wear
  3. 3 Like this, like that
  4. 4 The daily grind
  5. 5 Christmas every day
  6. 6 Great achievers
  7. 7 The Titanic
  8. 8 Travel
  9. 9 The big wedding
  10. 10 Sunny's job hunt
  11. 11 The bucket list
  12. 12 Moving and migration
  13. 13 Welcome to BBC Broadcasting House
  14. 14 New Year, New Project
  15. 15 From Handel to Hendrix
  16. 16 What's the weather like?
  17. 17 The Digital Revolution
  18. 18 A detective story
  19. 19 A place to live
  20. 20 The Cult of Celebrity
  21. 21 Welcome to your new job
  22. 22 Beyond the planets
  23. 23 Great expectations!
  24. 24 Eco-tourism
  25. 25 Moving house
  26. 26 It must be love
  27. 27 Job hunting success... and failure
  28. 28 Speeding into the future
  29. 29 Lost arts
  30. 30 Tales of survival

Session 3

Finn goes out and about to find out how some Londoners get to work. Listen to their stories and hear adverbs of frequency in action. Also, pick up a very useful pronunciation tip!

Sessions in this unit

12345

Session 3 score

0 / 12

  • 0 / 8
    Activity 1
  • 0 / 4
    Activity 2
  1. Activity 1
  2. Activity 2

Activity 2

Saying 'often'

Often is one of the adverbs of frequency we have looked at in this unit. There are two different ways of pronouncing it. Watch Emma to find out more!

Watch the video

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Emma
Hello again.

I love it by the river. I often come here.

Often. Did you notice the way I said often? Now listen to these people saying it:

 

People
He's often late for school.

I often eat in the canteen at lunch.

He's often late for class.

I often wear pink shoes.

 

Emma
So, there are two ways to pronounce the word often:

with the /t/ sound, like this often… often… often…

and without the /t/ sound, like this… often… often… often. 

Now, say it with Neil.

 

Neil
With the /t/ sound: often… often… often…

And now without the /t/ sound… often… often… often.

How do you know which one to use? Well, that’s your choice – they’re both correct. You can say whichever one feels most normal.

 

Emma
And that’s it. See you next time, bye.

 

To do

Watch the video again. There were four example sentences:

He's often late for school.

I often eat in the canteen at lunch.

He's often late for class.

I often wear pink shoes.

Can you hear if there is a /t/ sound or not in often?

Pronunciation of 'often'

4 Questions

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Pronunciation of 'often'

4 Questions

Drag the sentences into the correct column

Congratulations you completed the Quiz
Excellent! Great job! Bad luck! You scored:
x / y

End of Session 3

That’s the end of session 3. You've had some practice listening to people using adverbs of frequency and learnt a useful pronunciation point.  Come back for session 4. We've got a great blog by Rob who uses three forms of transport on his daily trip from the countryside to the city - just to get to work! See you then.

Session Grammar

  • Adverbs of frequency tell us how often an activity happens.

    I always walk to work.
    My father often forgets his birthday.

    This time of year is usually the coldest.

    Form

    Adverbs of frequency go before the main verb.

    subject + adverb + main verb

    I always eat breakfast.

    They go after the verb ‘to be’.

    subject + to be + adverb + main verb

    I am always late for work.

    They go between a modal and the main verb.

    subject + modal + adverb + main verb

    You should always wear a helmet.

     

View full grammar reference

Session Vocabulary

  • commuter
    someone who travels from home to work, or a place of study, and back again every day

    commute
    the journey from home to work or a place of study

    tube
    an informal name for the London Underground system

    knackered
    very tired

    miserable
    unpleasant, or causing unhappiness

    cyclist
    someone who travels by bicycle

View full vocabulary reference

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