Sentence structure and modal verbs

Question

1. I can always rely on him

2. I always can rely on him

As I understand it both are fine but 1 is standard. 2 is non-standard emphasizing different things, still correct?

Answer 1

If you want to sound like a native English speaker, you will say:

I can always rely on him.

"I always can rely on him" is awkward and would only really be appropriate in a very specific situation where the emphasis of the sentence is always rather than rely.

Answer 2

OP's two sentences:

1. I can always rely on him.
2. I always can rely on him.

Here only sentence 1 is grammatically correct. Only in poems can you use a sentence like this. Poetic licence allows poet to bend grammatical rules.

So in poems you can write:

1. I always can rely
2. Always can I rely
3. Rely on him can I always.