I read a book at the library with my friend / at the library with my friend

[wotcha]

Regarding the position of adverbs, we Korean ESL teachers say to students

Place -> Manner -> Time order is applied.

For example,

we say "I read a book at the library with my friend yesterday"

"I'm going to Paris by bus on Monday"

But, I just googled about the rule and all of ESL pages say

the order is normally Manner -> Place -> Time.

For instance "I studied very hard at school yesterday"

"Peter sang the song happily in the bathroom yesterday evening"

Then.... is it correct to say

"I read a book with my friend at the library yesterday"?

How about

"Peter sang the song in the bathroom happily yesterday evening"?

Thanks in advance. ^^;;;

[5jj]

Although we generally place adverbials in Manner-Time-Place order, we can change this depending on which adverbials we wish to stress and, sometimes, on the length of the adverbial. Orderings that look strange in print can sound fine in speech, when timing stress and intonation are used.

[Barb_D]

For instance "I study very hard at school yesterday" Note: You mean "studied." I don't really find a big difference between that and "I studied very hard yesterday at school" but any attempt to move "very hard" away from the word "studying" will result in a very strange sentence indeed.

"Peter sang the song happily in the bathroom yesterday evening" You are probably looking for nuances others don't see. He was miserable when he sang it in the living room but happy when he sang it in the bathroom? You could change the order of the last two without much difference.

Then.... is it correct to say

"I read a book with my friend with my friend yesterday"? I'm sure you didn't mean to write "with my friend" twice" and one should be "at the library." I don't see a difference in which order those two phrases appear.

How about

"Peter sang the song in the bathroom happily yesterday evening"? Fine

I can't imagine saying any of these, by the way, except the part about studying hard yesterday at school. As long as "how" you did it comes after the verb, where and when will often be interchangeable.

[wotcha]

I can't imagine saying any of these, by the way, except the part about studying hard yesterday at school. As long as "how" you did it comes after the verb, where and when will often be interchangeable.

Sorry!! I meant

I read a book at the library with my friend yesterday.

Does this sentence sound OK?

How about

I read a book at the library yesterday with my friend ?

[Barb_D]

I repeat: I don't see a difference in which order those two phrases appear.