He learned that he had missed the Monday flight.
I had summer clothes and winter clothes.
Ash had spent the Christmas holidays at Pelham Abbas.
Possessive forms can also be used.
…a discussion of the day’s events.
It was Jim Griffiths, who knew nothing of the morning’s happenings.
The story will appear in tomorrow’s paper.
This week’s batch of government statistics added to the general confusion over the state of the economy.
Frequency and duration
4.113 Here is a list of units of time that are used when you are showing how often something happens, or how long it lasts or takes:
moment
second
minute
hour
day
night
week
fortnight
month
year
decade
century
Fortnight is used only in the singular. Moment is not used with numbers because it does not refer to a precise period of time, so you cannot say for example It took five moments.
Words for periods of the day, days of the week, months of the year, and seasons are also used, such as morning, Friday, July, and winter.
Clock times may also be used.
Talking about how frequently something happens
4.114 Some adverbials show approximately how many times something happens:
again and again
a lot
all the time
always
constantly
continually
continuously
ever
frequently
from time to time
hardly ever
infrequently
intermittently
much
never
normally
occasionally
often
over and over
periodically
rarely
regularly
repeatedly
seldom
sometimes
sporadically
usually
I never did my homework on time.
Sometimes I wish I was back in Africa.
We were always being sent home.
He laughed a lot.
Never is a negative adverb.
She never goes abroad.
Ever is only used in questions, negative clauses, and if-clauses.
Have you ever been to a concert?
Much is usually used with not.
The men didn’t talk much to each other.
Some adverbs of frequency such as often and frequently can also be used in the comparative and superlative.
Disasters can be prevented more often than in the past.
I preached much more often than that.
They cried for their mothers less often than might have been expected. …the mistakes that we make most frequently.
4.115 To show how many times something happens, you can use a specific number, several, or many followed by times.
We had to ask three times.
It’s an experience I’ve repeated many times since.
He carefully aimed his rifle and fired several times.
If the number you are using is one you use once (not one time) in this structure. If it is two you can use twice.
I’ve been out with him once, that’s all.
The car broke down twice.
If something happens regularly, you can say how many times it happens within a period of time by adding a and a word referring to a period of time.
The group met once a week.
You only have a meal three times a day.
The committee meets twice a year.
You can also use an adverb of frequency such as once with a unit of time preceded by every to say that something happens a specified number of times regularly within that unit of time.
The average Briton moves house once every seven and a half years.
We meet twice every Sunday.
Three times every day, he would come to the kiosk to check that we were all right.
If an event happens regularly during a specific period of the day, you can use the period of day instead of times:
I used to go in three mornings a week.
He was going out five nights a week.
A regular rate or quantity can also be expressed by adding a and a general time word. Per is sometimes used instead of a, especially in technical contexts.
He earns about £1000 a week.
I was only getting three hours of sleep a night. …rising upwards at the rate of 300 feet per second.
He hurtles through the air at 600 miles per hour.
estimating frequency
4.116 If you want to be less precise about how frequently something happens, you can use one of the following words or expressions: almost, about, nearly, or so, or less, and or more.
You can use almost and about in front of every.
In the last month of her pregnancy, we went out almost every evening.
You can also use almost in front of -ly time adverbs derived from general time words, for example monthly, weekly and daily.
Small scale confrontations occur almost daily in many states.
Or so, or less, and or more are used after frequency expressions, but not after adverbs of frequency.
Every hour or so, my shoulders would tighten.
If the delay is two hours or more, the whole cost of the journey should be refunded.
regular intervals
4.117 If you want to say that something happens at regular intervals, you can use every followed by either a general or a specific unit of time. Each is sometimes used instead of every.