- Generally speaking adverbs of frequency come before the main verb except the main verb "to be":
- I sometimes visit my uncle.
- We have often seen him pass by the house.
- They are seldom at work.
- Occasionally, sometimes, often, frequently and usually can also go at the beginning or end of a sentence:
- Sometimes they visit him.
- I miss him occasionally.
- Rarely and seldom can also go at the end of a sentence (often with "very"):
- We see them rarely.
- John eats meat very seldom.
Adverbs of frequency include (form most often to least often):
| always | |
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| often | |
| sometimes/occasionally | |
| seldom/rarely | |
| never | |
Cumulative and Coordinate Adjectives
Where to place adjectives?
Adjectives are placed:
before a noun which they modify
or after a verb like be, feel, seem, look.
Examples:
They bought a big house.
They are nice.
Cumulative or coordinate adjectives
When adjectives pile up in front of a noun, however, you may sometimes have difficulty arranging them. Such a string of adjectives can be either cumulative or coordinate adjectives.
Coordinate Adjectives
These are adjectives that separately modify a noun. Their order can be scrambled and they can be joined by and. A comma is needed to separate each coordinate adjective. But if there is a the word and no comma is needed.
Example:
While strolling in the woods, they found a strange, mysterious and frightened child.
Cumulative Adjectives
When adjectives pile up to jointly describe the noun and need to be arranged in a specific order, they are called cumulative adjectives. No commas are needed to separate the adjectives.
Example:
He bought a wonderful old French car.
Cumulative adjectives generally follow a certain order of arrangement.
| Opinion | good, attractive, beautiful, delicious... |
| Size | large, small, enormous... |
| Age | old, new, modern, young... |
| Length or shape | long, short, square, round... |
| Color | red, blue, green... |
| Origin (nationality, religion) | American, French, Muslim, Christian... |
| Material | plastic, woolen, wooden, cotton.. |
| Purpose | electric (wire), tennis (shirt) |
It should be noted that long strings of cumulative adjectives tend to be awkward. It would be acceptable to use no more than two or three of them.
Examples:
An attractive young American lady.
A modern Japanese electric car.
A big square blue box.
You may also be interested in
- Possessive adjectives
- Adjectives
- Demonstratives
- Quantifiers
- Determiners
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Quantifiers
What are quantifiers?
A quantifier is a word or phrase which is used before a noun to indicate the amount or quantity:
'Some', 'many', 'a lot of' and 'a few' are examples of quantifiers.
Quantifiers can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.
Examples:
There are some books on the desk
He's got only a few dollars.
How much money have you got?
There is a large quantity of fish in this river.
He's got more friends than his sister.
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Examples of quantifiers
With Uncountable Nouns
much
a little/little/very little *
a bit (of)
a great deal of
a large amount of
a large quantity of
With Both
all
enough
more/most
less/least
no/none
not any
some
any
a lot of
lots of
plenty of
With Countable Nouns
many
a few/few/very few **
a number (of)
several
a large number of
a great number of
a majority of
* NOTE
few, very few mean that there is not enough of something.
a few means that there is not a lot of something, but there is enough.
** NOTE
little, very little mean that there is not enough of something.
a little means that there is not a lot of something, but there is enough.
Numbers and Numerals
This material describes how numbers are expressed by numerals in English and provides examples of cardinal and ordinal numerals, common and decimal fractions, and examples of differences between British and American English in expressing numbers. Some differences in the representation of numbers in English and Russian are also indicated.
, , , , . .
For the purposes of studying, numbers in this material are written in words and figures. Recommendations on the use of figures or words for expressing numbers and examples of the use of numbers in various situations are given inNumbers in Situations in the section Miscellany.
, . Numbers in Situations Miscellany.
Functions of numerals
A numeral is a figure, a letter, a word (or their combinations) representing a number. Cardinal numerals indicate number, quantity or amount and are used in counting. Ordinal numerals indicate order, that is, the order of things in a series. Numerals can be written in figures or words (2 or two; 25 or twenty-five; 17th or seventeenth).
, , ( ), . . , . (2 ; 25 ; 17- ).
Numerals function as nouns and adjectives. In a sentence, a numeral can serve as a subject, attribute, object, predicative complement, or adverbial modifier.
. , , , .
Ten students took part in the competition. Three of them received awards.
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. .
Twenty cars were sold on the first day. Five of them were sports cars.
. .
There are 135 employees in this company. We talked to 45 of them.
135 . 45 .
How many cakes did you buy? I bought five. I ate two.
? . .
Two plus four is six. Three times three is nine.
. .
How old is your grandfather? He is 72. He was born in 1940.
? 72. 1940 .
Note:
:
It is interesting to note that the numeral is not a part of speech in English. The word "numerals" in English sources refers mostly to figures (not words). Words like "three, six, twenty, forty-five, hundred, third, sixth, twentieth, forty-fifth, hundredth" are nouns and adjectives in English.
, . "numerals" ( ). "three, six, twenty, forty-five, hundred, third, sixth, twentieth, forty-fifth, hundredth" .
Compare English and Russian parts of speech:
:
There are eight parts of speech in English: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. (In some English sources, articles are included in this list as a part of speech.)
: , , , , , , . ( .)
There are ten parts of speech in Russian: nouns, pronouns, adjectives, numerals, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, particles, and interjections.
: , , , , , , , , .
Numerals: BrE and AmE
: BrE AmE
Both in British English and in American English groups of three digits in numerals of one thousand and higher are usually separated by a comma, counting from the right: 4,286; 12,345; 378,925; 6,540,210.
, , , : 4,286; 12,345; 378,925; 6,540,210.
Some manuals of style recommend writing four-digit numerals without a comma: 1570; 2358; 5625.
: 1570; 2358; 5625.
In numbers written as words in British English, the conjunction "and" is used before tens, or before ones if there are no tens, starting with hundreds: one hundred and twenty-three (123); four hundred and seven (407); three thousand five hundred and thirty-eight (3,538); seventy-three thousand and five (73,005); five million three hundred thousand and fifty (5,300,050).
, , "and" , , , : one hundred and twenty-three (123); four hundred and seven (407); three thousand five hundred and thirty-eight (3,538); seventy-three thousand and five (73,005); five million three hundred thousand and fifty (5,300,050).
Note the use of more than one conjunction "and" in large numbers in British English: two million six hundred and twenty-five thousand three hundred and ten (2,625,310).
"and" : two million six hundred and twenty-five thousand three hundred and ten (2,625,310).
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In American English, the conjunction "and" is generally not used before tens or ones: one hundred twenty-three (123); four hundred seven (407); three thousand five hundred thirty-eight (3,538); seventy-three thousand five (73,005); two million six hundred twenty-five thousand three hundred ten (2,625,310); five million three hundred thousand fifty (5,300,050).
"and" : one hundred twenty-three (123); four hundred seven (407); three thousand five hundred thirty-eight (3,538); seventy-three thousand five (73,005); two million six hundred twenty-five thousand three hundred ten (2,625,310); five million three hundred thousand fifty (5,300,050).
In British English, the conjunction "and" is also used before tens or ones in ordinal numerals above one hundred: one hundred and tenth (110th); three thousand and fifth (3005th). But "and" is not used in American ordinals: one hundred tenth (110th); three thousand fifth (3005th).
"and" : one hundred and tenth (110th); three thousand and fifth (3005th). "and" : one hundred tenth (110th); three thousand fifth (3005th).
In this material, numbers expressed in words are written without "and" before tens or ones.
, , "and" .
