Question

Choose the correct position of the adverb of frequency in the following sentence:
He plays soccer on Sundays. (sometimes)

a) He plays sometimes soccer on Sundays.
b) He plays soccer on Sundays sometimes.
c) He sometimes plays soccer on Sundays.
d) Sometimes he plays soccer on Sundays.

Answer 1

Hint: Some frequency adverbs (e.g. usually, normally, often, frequently, and occasionally, etc.) can go either at the beginning or end of a sentence. Their placement position can be understood by recalling and applying the basic rules of grammar.

Complete answer:

The words which add meaning to a verb in a sentence are known as Adverbs. Adverbs of frequency, basically inform us how often something is done.

These words are under the sub-category of Adverbs of Time and go between an auxiliary verb and the main verb and If there are two auxiliary verbs, the adverb of frequency goes between them, For example, I have never been to Delhi.

Now, ‘sometimes’ is an Adverb of indefinite frequency, which makes the entire statement vague. Going by the hint given, we can immediately eliminate options ‘a’ and ‘c’.

Between option ‘b’ and ‘d’, when the word to be inserted is used in the beginning, the inference derived is that he plays not regularly, which is not the case, so option ‘b’ is the correct answer as it says that; he plays regularly but not always on Sundays.

Note: Elimination of alternatives by applying rules of grammar is the safest method to solve any question because it saves time as well.