Time/Place sentence structure confusion, help greatly appreciated please
大家好我需要问东西 I am having a bit of struggles with the time/place aspect in mandarin. I'll give you examples of what i mean:
In the afternoon at home。 I like to drink Cola.
我下午在家喜欢喝可乐 - one way to say it
下午在家我喜欢喝可乐
我喜欢下午在家喝可乐

Okay so, to my understanding: 下午在家 time & place must be before the verb 喝. Now it can be after 喜欢 which is also a verb .. which confused me at first but i was told because the focus on this sentence is on 'drinking' not 'liking'.

Anyway but now what confuses me is this next sentence
我要在北京工作
I want to work in Beijing

Now 工作 to work, is the verb here. However why is it i cannot then restructure as follows
在北京我要工作
我在北京要工作

?? Isn't this the same as the first example? i put 我喜欢下午在家 and it is correct so why isn't 我在北京要??

Help would be appreciated, i feel like this is something i really have to understand, the time and location structure is confusing me a lot.

非常感谢（真大)
:)

Question

Time/Place sentence structure confusion, help greatly appreciated please 
大家好 我需要问东西  I am having a bit of struggles with the time/place aspect in mandarin. I'll give you examples of what i mean: 
In the afternoon at home。 I like to drink Cola.  
我下午在家喜欢喝可乐 - one way to say it   
下午在家我喜欢喝可乐 
我喜欢下午在家喝可乐

Okay so, to my understanding: 下午在家 time & place must be before the verb 喝. Now it can be after 喜欢 which is also a verb .. which confused me at first but i was told because the focus on this sentence is on 'drinking' not 'liking'.

Anyway but now what confuses me is this next sentence
我要在北京工作
I want to work in Beijing

Now 工作 to work, is the verb here. However why is it i cannot then restructure as follows
在北京我要工作
我在北京要工作

?? Isn't this the same as the first example? i put 我喜欢下午在家 and it is correct so why isn't 我在北京要??

Help would be appreciated, i feel like this is something i really have to understand, the time and location structure is confusing me a lot.

非常感谢 （真大) 
:)

Answer

In the afternoon at home。 I like to drink Cola.

this sentence emphasize you like to drink cola.so no3 sentence is the best.

1.我下午在家喜欢喝可乐 (emphasize "下午在家" )
2.下午在家我喜欢喝可乐(emphasize "下午在家")
3.我喜欢下午在家(里)喝可乐（emphasize "喜欢"）

I want to work in Beijing＝我想要在北京工作,so no1 sentence is the best.
1.我要在北京工作（emphasize "在北京"）

2.在北京我要工作（emphasize "要工作"）

3.我在北京要工作（emphasize "要工作"）

Answer

我要在北京工作,在北京我要工作,我在北京要工作.  three sentence are  correct ,but they stands for different meaning. i mean, you emphasize different aspect.  
"在北京我要工作"mean: your station is that you are in beijing now,and then you want to work."我要在北京工作" mean:you want to work in beijing ,but maybe you are not in benjing now,and you do not work in beijing now.

can you understand? if you have more question ,you can contact me.

Answer

you were confused because you put the word 工作 as the verb in the second example.
but actually want is the verb of the sentence
btw,  the better way to translate of want in that sentence is 想, not 要. 


not all the verb is the verb of the sentence .

Answer

I think Mr. rayment's answer is clearer. 

And,

In the afternoon at home, I like to drink Cola.
means
下午在家的时候，我喜欢喝可乐。

我喜欢下午在家喝可乐
means
I like to drink drink Cola in the afternoon at home.

下午(的时候),我喜欢在家喝可乐
means
I like to drink drink Cola at home in the afternoon.

So it seems your problem is about studying pivotal sentences, isn't it? How are your pivotal sentences so far? 
In my opinions, you'd better to study pivotal sentences before you study tense. And tense is not such hard as English in Chinese.

Btw, In Chinese structure, focuses mostly appear from the last parts to the beginning in sentences; which is opposite from English.

Please contact me if you need more supporting. :)