Routines, Habits and Repeated Activity
The timeline below shows actions that regularly occur from the past, through the present, into the future.
We use the simple present to express habits or things that we do regularly.
| Routine | I usually get up at 7 o’clock. |
| Habit | I always drink coffee with my breakfast. |
| Repeated activity | I play tennis after work on Fridays. |
We use some adverbs to describe how frequently we do an activity.
These are called adverbs of frequency and include:
| Adverb of Frequency | Frequency |
| always | 100% |
| usually | 90% |
| normally / generally | 80% |
| often / frequently | 70% |
| sometimes | 50% |
| occasionally | 30% |
| seldom | 10% |
| hardly ever / rarely | 5% |
| never | 0% |
We can also use adverbs of definite frequency when we want to be more specific about the frequency:
| every | day | week | month | year |
| once | a day | a week | a month | a year |
| twice | a day | a week | a month | a year |
| four times | a day | a week | a month | a year |
| every | other day | other week | other month | other year |
| daily | weekly | monthly | yearly |
Prepositions of time:
“In” is used to describe a general period of time.
“At” is only used to describe specific times.
“On” for specific days
| In | On | At |
| in the morning(s) | on Monday(s) | at 6 o’clock |
| in the afternoon(s) | on Tuesday(s) | at dawn |
| in the evening(s) | on Wednesday(s) | at dusk |
| in January | on Thursday(s) | at midnight |
| in February | on Friday(s) | at midday |
| in March | on Saturday(s) | at noon |
| in April | on Sunday(s) | at breakfast |
| in May | on Monday morning | at lunchtime |
| in June | on Tuesday afternoon | at dinnertime |
| in July | on Friday evening | at the weekend |
| in August | on the 10th (day) of June | at Christmas |
| in September | on my birthday | at Easter |
| in October | on our anniversary | at the end |
| in November | on holiday | at the beginning |
| in December | on Christmas day | at bedtime |
| in spring | on Easter day | at sunrise |
| in summer | on St Valentine’s Day | at sunset |
| in autumn | on Memorial Day | at the same time |
| in winter | on New Year’s Day | at once |
| in 1968 | on the first day | at first |
| in the sixties (60s) | on the last day | at last |
| in the nineteenth century | on the last day of school | at the end |
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