Mastering "During the Finals": A Simple Grammar Guide for ESL Learners

Do you ever find yourself struggling to describe activities that happen in specific, intense periods? English learners often want to talk about busy times, like exam weeks or big sporting events. This guide will help you master the adverbial phrase during the finals. Understanding how to use adverbial phrases like this naturally in your sentences is key to improving your fluency in English. Let's dive into its meaning and how to use it correctly!

Table of Contents

• What Does “during the finals” Mean?
• What Type of Adverbial Phrase Is “during the finals”?
• Example Sentences with “during the finals”
• When and How to Use “during the finals”?
• Summary and Practice Tip

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What Does “during the finals” Mean?

The adverbial phrase during the finals describes actions or events that happen at the same time as final exams or championship competitions. It tells us when something occurs. The word "finals" can refer to the last, most important exams at a school or university, or the final series of games in a sports competition that decides the winner.

It functions in a sentence by adding information about the timing of an action. For example, if you say, "I studied hard during the finals," it means your studying happened throughout that specific period of final exams or games. This helps to modify verbs and provide more context.

More: Mastering 'for the last few hours': A Simple Grammar Guide

What Type of Adverbial Phrase Is “during the finals”?

During the finals is an adverbial phrase of time. It functions like an adverb, answering the question "When?". It modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, but most commonly, it modifies a verb, telling us when an action took place.

Its grammatical structure is simple:

• Preposition: "During"
• Determiner: "the"
• Noun: "finals" (which is a plural noun here)

This phrase can usually be placed at the beginning or end of a sentence. Placing it at the beginning can add emphasis or transition smoothly.

Here are common sentence patterns:

• Subject + Verb + [Adverbial Phrase]
  • Example: She felt a lot of stress during the finals.
• [Adverbial Phrase], Subject + Verb
  • Example:During the finals, the library was always full.

More: Mastering 'After a Long Pause': Grammar Guide for ESL Learners

Example Sentences with “during the finals”

Let’s see during the finals in action with these natural sentence examples:

• He rarely slept well during the finals because of the pressure.
• The coach implemented a strict diet plan for the team during the finals.
• My university campus gets incredibly quiet during the finals as everyone is studying.

Here are a few dialogues to show its common use:

• Person A: Did you have time to watch any movies last week?

• Person B: No, I was completely swamped with studying during the finals.

• Person A: Why was the stadium so empty for the practice game?

• Person B: Most people were saving their energy and excitement for the actual championship, during the finals next week.

When and How to Use “during the finals”

You'll hear and use during the finals most often when talking about academic periods or sports championships. It's suitable for both formal and informal situations, from emails about exam schedules to casual conversations about sports results. It clearly specifies a period of intense activity.

• Typical Use Cases:

  • Academic Context: "The students were very stressed during the finals." (Referring to final exams)
  • Sports Context: "Our team showed incredible resilience during the finals." (Referring to championship games)
  • General Discussions: To describe actions taking place throughout a defined, intense period.

• Common Variations/Related Phrases:

  • Instead of "during the finals," you might hear "during the exam period" or "during championship week." These phrases have similar meanings and provide English grammar help for describing time.

• Common Mistakes:

  • One common mistake is using "in the finals" when you mean "during the finals." "In the finals" usually means participating in the final game or competition itself, not the entire period. For example: "Our team played in the finals" (they reached the final game). But "Our team trained hard during the finals" (they trained throughout the championship period). Pay attention to this distinction to improve your natural sentence use and avoid common mistakes.

According to Oxford Learner's Dictionaries, "finals" refers to the last series of examinations at a school or university, or the final series of games in a sports competition.

Summary and Practice Tip

The adverbial phrase during the finals is a crucial part of English sentence structure for describing when events happen in specific, intense periods. Remember, it means "at the same time as the final exams or championship games." It's an adverbial phrase of time that adds valuable detail to your sentences, modifying verbs and giving context.

To practice using this phrase and enhance your ESL writing tips, try writing a sentence about something you did or observed during the finals (either exams or a sports event). Share it in the comments below or write it down! The more you practice, the more natural your how to use adverbial phrases will become.