Question

Choose whether the following is true or false:
In the sentence, “She goes to the park when she’s upset often”, ‘often’ modifies the noun ‘upset’.
a) True
b) False

Answer 1

Hint: The student should read the sentence carefully and determine what kind of words ‘often’ and ‘upset’ are. This will help in identifying their role in any possible modification.

Complete answer:
In the given question, we have to find out what type of word ‘often’ and ‘upset’ are. ‘Often’ is an adverb. An adverb is a word that modifies something other than a noun. An adverb is the word class that qualifies verbs or clauses.
‘Upset’ is a noun. A noun is a content word that can be used to refer to a person, place, thing, quality, or action. A noun is the word class that can serve as the subject or object of a verb, the object of a preposition, or in apposition.
Now, ‘often’ is an adverb of frequency. An adverb of frequency is usually placed exactly before the main verb (goes). In case the main verb is not present, it is placed after the helping verb (to be).
Adverbs do not modify nouns. Thus, option (b.), ‘False', is correct as it signifies that the adverb ‘often’ does not modify the noun ‘upset’.
Therefore, option (a.), 'True', is incorrect.

Note:
 In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the concept of adverbs of frequency. An adverb of frequency describes how often an action or event happens. The six main adverbs of frequency are: often, sometimes, always, usually (or normally), rarely, and never.