FREQUENCY ADVERBS

• Discuss the meanings of frequency adverbs. Perhaps present to the students the specific frequency of some activity and ask them which adverb would be best. Examples:

I drink coffee every morning of the week.  always
I drink coffee six mornings a week.  usually
I drink coffee four or five mornings a week.  often
I drink coffee two, three, or four mornings a week.  sometimes
I drink coffee once every two weeks.  seldom
I drink coffee once or twice a year.  rarely
• Other possible points to discuss:

(1) Usually and often are close in meaning. If any students want to pursue a distinction, you might say that usually is 95% of the time, and often is 90% of the time. Or you might say that usually means “most of the time, regularly” and often means “many times, repeated times, frequently.”

(2) Often can be pronounced /ɔfən/ or /ɔftən/.
(3) In discussing the difference between seldom and rarely, you might describe seldom as 5% of the time and rarely as 1% of the time.
Source: Betty Azhar