2.1 An apple a day keeps the doctor away (adverbials of time)

 

Listen to this Nursery Rhyme "An apple a day keeps the doctor away".

  "An apple a day keeps the doctor away
Apple in the morning - Doctor's warning
Roast apple at night - starves the doctor outright
Eat an apple going to bed - knock the doctor on the head
Three times a day, seven times a week - ruddy apple, ruddy cheek"
Vídeo de APPUSERIES  alojado en Youtube

Ejercicio Resuelto

 

 

In the previous nursery rhyme, there are several adverbial phrases to say how often something happens or should happen: "a day", "three times a day" and "seven times a week". So, there are other ways of expressing the frequency of actions. The normal position of these adverbs is at the end of the sentence (e.g. I play tennis every Saturday), although they can also be placed at the very beginning (e.g. Every Saturday I play tennis). Read the following examples:

Pieces of fruit

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  1. Andrés's mother cooks lunch everyday.
  2. Paco and his father go fishing every weekend.
  3. Sonia goes jogging every Sunday.
  4. On Thursdays, Paco and Andrés play tennis.
  5. Paco's friends phone him daily.
  6. Sonia washes Paco's car once a week.
  7. Paco does the lottery weekly.
  8. Three times a month, Paco helps a Non-Governmental Organization.
  9. Juan eats some fruit from time to time.

Recognize the adverbial phrases of frequency in the previous sentences.

Reflexiona

These are other adverbial phrases to express how often something happens or how often you do something:

once / twice / three times / four times ... a day / week / month / year
daily / weekly / monthly / yearly / annually    
every  

morning / afternoon / evening

day / week / month / year

Monday / Tuesday ...

other day

/now and then / so often

constantly / continuously    
on  

Mondays / Tuesdays ...

weekdays

weekends

again and again    
from time to time / now and again    

Ejercicio Resuelto

Say how often you do the following actions.

Imagen de monsta's ink en Flickr.

Licencian CC.

wash your face - make the bed - brush your teeth - go to the cinema - make a cake - do a favour - help people - practice sports - read a book - watch TV - eat fruit - have a sandwich - phone your relatives

Imagine Paco does all the previous actions. Let's see how often he does them:

Curiosidad

An apple a day keeps the doctor away

This common proverb was first cited in England by 1893. It is said to come from the Welsh proverb "Eat an apple on going to bed, and you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread", which was popular in Pembrokeshire (Wales) and was first cited in print in 1866. Other variants of this proverb are: "An apple a day, no doctor to pay" (1898), and "An apple a day sends the doctor away" (1899).

 

Do you know any Spanish proverb to say it? The most common one seems to be "Una manzana cada día, de médico te ahorraría". Other variants are: "Una manzana cada día al médico alejado mantendría", "Una manzana cada día, mil médicos alejaría", and even "Una manzana cada día da salud y alegría".

An apple a day...
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Importante

In, On, At or _ ?

 

Prepositions of time

Do you know when to use at, in, on or - ? Look at this explanation.

Vídeo de Bluebloc Notes (Aprender Inglés)  en Youtube.

Although some people think proverbs are out of fashion, others think they are very useful and are not out of fashion as Wolfgang Mieder demonstrates in his book Proverbs Are Never Out of Season (Mieder Wolfgang, Proverbs are Never Out of Season: Popular Wisdom in the Modern Age. Oxford and New York: OUP, 1993).

As you have seen, adverbs are an important part of speech. Let's see how adverbs are frequently formed in English.