Position of Adverbs of Frequency in English

The adverbs of frequency are common adverbs. They include always, usually, often, sometimes, seldom and never. In the sentence they can occur in three positions: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end.

The adverbs of frequency are usually placed before the main verb. This is the case in the sentence She usually arrives early. However, with the verb be, the adverb of frequency is placed after the verb as in the sentence She is usually early.

With sometimes and usually it is also natural to place them at the beginning of the sentence. Examples include Sometimes I watch the news and Usually I drink coffee for breakfast. However, the most common is to place them before the verb.

Adverbs of frequency can also be placed at the end of the sentence. The sentence We see each other often is correct. However, the most common position for the advcrb is in the middle: We often see each other. 

The adverbs of frequency can occur in three positions in the sentence. They are the beginning, the middle and the end. The adverbs of frequency which are most common at the beginning of the sentence are sometimes and usually.

The Ugly Duckling

The Ugly Duckling is a fairy tale by the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen. It is one of Hans Christian Andersen's most famous fairy tales and has been translated into many languages. Though the fairy tale is short, Hans Christian Andersen spent considerable time with it.

In the fairy tale, the eggs of a mother duck hatch. One of the ducklings is considered ugly and suffers abuse. He leaves the barn and lives with wild ducks and geese until hunters shoot them. He later finds a home with an old woman, but her cat and hen tease him endlessly, so he goes away.

The duckling sees a flock of wild swans. Though he is delighted, he cannot join them because he is too young and cannot fly. When winter arrives, a farmer finds the duckling and takes him home. However, the farmer's noisy children frighten him and he escapes. The duckling spends a cold winter outdoors, mostly hiding in a cave.

The duckling, now fully grown, no longer wants to continue with a life of solitude. He decides to throw himself at a flock of wild swans in the belief that it is better to be killed by such beautiful birds than to experience a life of ugliness. When the swams welcome him, he is shocked. By looking at his reflection in the water, he realizes that he is not a duck but a swan. The flock takes to the air, and he spreads his wings to fly and join his new family.

Hans Christian Andersen once confessed that the story was a reflection of his own life. The swan can represent inner beauty and talent. The Ugly Duckling is about a transformation and truly reminds the reader that appearances can change.

Mineiro Dialect of Brazilian Portuguese

The Mineiro dialect is spoken in the central part of Minas Gerais, a state in Brazil. It is one of the dialects which is the easiest to distinguish for Brazilians. The dialect is spoken by approximately half of the population of the state of Minas Gerais.

The Mineiro dialect is known for its rhythm. Stressed syllables are much longer than unstressed ones. It is stress-timed.

Word-final short vowels are deleted, a process known as apocope. For example, the word parte (part) is pronounced with one syllable. However, in most of Brazil, word-final vowels are pronounced.

Consecutive identical vowels are often realized as one vowel. For example, o urubu (the vulture) is pronounced [urubu]. The definite article o (the) is pronounced [u].

In words which begin with es, the word-initial vowel is often deleted. For example, the word esporte (sport) is often pronounced with a word-initial consonant. The result is that the word has only one syllable because the word-final vowel is also deleted. In the rest of Brazil, it is usually pronounced with three syllables.

Many words with successive vowels are pronounced with one long vowel. The word fio (thread) is pronounced [fi:]. The word-final vowel is deleted and the initial vowel is lengthened. The process is called compensatory lengthening.

Word-final [u] is often dropped. For example, the word pinho (pine) is often pronounced without the word-final vowel. In addition, the palatal nasal is also deleted and the vowel becomes nasalized. The result is a word with only one syllable instead of two and two segments instead of four.

One of the most distinctive Brazilian Portuguese dialects is the Mineiro dialect. The stress-timed rhythm with long stressed vowels and short unstressed vowels is typical of the dialect. Other phonological characteristics  of the dialect include apocope and vowel deletion in words with consecutive identical vowels.

Diphthongs in the Swedish of Stockholm

The Swedish spoken in the south of Sweden is known for its extensive use of diphthongs. However, the variety spoken in Stockholm also has a number of diphthongs. In Finland and other parts of Sweden such as northern Sweden, monophthongs are used instead.

The high vowels tend to be pronounced with a glide in the Swedish of Stockholm. This is true for both the high front and high back vowels. In addition, the high front vowels are more central in Stockholm than they are in other parts of the country. 

Diphthongization also occurs with the mid vowels. In fact, the vowel with the greatest degree of diphthongization is the mid front unrounded vowel such as in med (with). In words such as snö (snow), the mid front rounded vowel is realized with a schwa in the second component. The mid back vowel is also diphthongized with clear centralization in the second component of the diphthong. It occurs in words such as son (son).

Vowel charts of Swedish usually depict monophthongs for the Swedish vowels. However, in varieties of Swedish such as those spoken in the south and in Stockholm, the vowels are often diphthongs. In the Swedish of Stockholm, the high vowels and the tense mid vowels are diphthongs. This contrasts with other varieties of Swedish which produce them as monophthongs.

Tosca

Tosca is a famous opera by Giacomo Puccini. The main characters are Floria Tosca, a singer, Mario Cavaradossi, a painter, Cesare Angelotti, former consul of the Roman Republic and Baron Scarpia, the chief of police. It takes place in Rome in 1800.

Cesare Angelotti, an escaped political prisoner, runs into a church and hides in the private chapel. A caretaker enters and begins to clean. The painter Mario Cavaradossi arrives to work on his painting of Mary Magdalene. Cesare Angelotti appears and tells Mario Cavaradossi that he is being pursued by the Chief of Police, Baron Scarpia. The painter promises to assist him after nightfall. The voice of Floria Tosca is heard calling the painter. Cesare Angelotti returns to his hiding place.

Floria asks Mario what he has been doing. She thinks he has been talking to another woman. After he reassures her, she tries to persuade him to take her to his villa that evening. She expresses jealousy over the woman in the painting who she recognizes as Cesare's sister. He explains that he has only seen her in prayer at church and tells her he has been faithful.

After she leaves, Cesare reappears. He discusses with the painter his plan to escape as a woman, using clothes left in the chapel by his sister. He gives Cesare a key to his villa and suggests that he hide in an abandoned well in the garden. The sound of a cannon indicates that Cesare's escape has been discovered, and the two men quickly leave the church.

Baron Scarpia enters the church with his police and orders a search of the church. Then Baron Scarpia questions the caretaker and becomes more suspicious when he learns that Mario was in the church. He does not trust the painter and believes he is complicit in Cesare's escape.

When Floria arrives looking for Mario, Baron Scarpia implies a relationship between the painter and the woman in his painting. She falls for his deceit and rushes to confront Mario. Baron Scarpia then orders his agents to following her, believing that she will lead them to Cesare and Mario. 

Baron Scarpia sends Floria a note asking her to visit his apartment. His agent Spoletta reports that Mario has been arrested. The painter is interrogated, but he denies knowing anything about Cesare's escape.

As she enters the apartment, she sees the painter being escorted to another room. All he has time to say is that she must not tell Baron Scarpia anything. Baron Scarpia then tells her that she can save the painter from indescribable pain if she reveals Cesare's hiding place. She resists, but the sound of screams make her tell Baron Scarpia to search the well in Mario's villa.

Baron Scarpia orders the torture to stop, and the bloodied painter returns. He is devastated to learn that Floria has betrayed his friend. One of Baron Scarpia's agents announces that the French are marching towards Rome. The painter, unable to contain himself, tells Baron Scarpia that his reign of terror will soon end. This is enough for the police to consider him guilty, and they take him away to be executed.

Baron Scarpia, now alone with Floria, proposes a bargain. If she gives herself to him, the painter will be freed. She is disgusted and rejects his advances, but she hears the drums outside announcing an execution. She tries to offer money, but Baron Scarpia is not interested in a bribe. He wants her.

Spoletta returns and announces that Cesare killed himself when he was discovered, and that everything is ready for Mario's execution. Baron Scarpia hesitates and looks at Floria. In desperation, she agrees to his offer. He then tells Spoletta to arrange a mock execution.

Floria insists that Baron Scarpia must provide safe passage for Mario and her. He agrees and heads to his desk. While he is preparing the document, she quietly takes a knife from the supper table and stabs him while he begins to embrace her. She removes the document from his pocket and leaves.

A jailer informs Mario that he has one hour to live. Floria arrives and shows him the document that guarantees safe passage. She tells him that she has killed Baron Scarpia and that the execution is false. He must feign death and then they can escape before Baron Scarpia's body is found. 

Mario is led away, and Floria watches with increasing impatience. The men fire, and she praises the realistic depiction of his fall. When the soldiers leave, she runs towards Mario and orders him to get up quickly. Only then does she learn that Baron Scarpia betrayed her. The bullets were real. Heartbroken, she embraces the painter's dead body and weeps.

The voices of the police and the soldiers are heard announcing that Baron Scarpia is dead and that Floria has killed him. As they rush towards her, Floria evades them and runs towards a wall. She then throws herself over the edge to her death.

Tosca is an opera of love and betrayal. It is a tragedy because the main characters all lose their lives. The opera is one of the most popular because of the beautiful music and dramatic scenes. 

Finnish Diphthongs

The Finnish language has many diphthongs. Though many Finnish diphthongs also occur in other languages, Finnish also has diphthongs that are not so common in other languages. Here is a list of Finnish words with relatively rare diphthongs:

leyhkä (breeze)

liukas (slippery)

hyi (ugh)

pöytä (table)

ruis (rye)

suo (swamp)

täysin (fully)

yö (night)

The letter ä represents a low front unrounded vowel, and the letter y represents a high front rounded vowel. Unlike in many other languages, Finnish has diphthongs that combine two front rounded vowels in words such as pöytä and yö. None of the diphthongs from the words in the list occur in English.

Diphthongs are common in many languages. However, Finnish has many diphthongs which do not occur in other languages. They also also include front rounded vowels and combinations with front rounded vowels only.