October 2020

-ORY noun adjective suffix

1 HISTORY (NN1) 3291043 2 STORY (NN1) 3184406 3 MEMORY (NN1) 1152441 4 THEORY (NN1) 854191 5 CATEGORY (NN1) 802465 6 VICTORY (NN1) 569542 7 FACTORY (NN1) 534302 8 DIRECTORY (NN1) 472252 9 INVENTORY (NN1) 433730 10 REGULATORY (JJ) 344896 11 TERRITORY (NN1) 335570 12 LABORATORY (NN1) 327694 13 GLORY (NN1) 290624 14 ADVISORY (JJ)

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fronted preposition + relative pronoun

Wh-relatives can be preceded by a preposition unlike ‘that’ or ‘zero’ relatives.  For example: This is the thing which I am interested in.  (stranded preposition) This is the thing in which I am interested. (fronted preposition) This is the thing that I am interested in. (stranding) This is the thing I am interested in. (‘zero’ relative pronoun and stranding) In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 12 in the category of PREPOSITIONs is defined as: preposition + relative pronoun as complement, to

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past perfect continuous in a relative clause

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 78 in the category of PAST is defined as: past perfect continuous in relative clauses to give background information. For example: I was scrolling on social media,  and I saw a friend who had been sharing positive news stories. TED A search in iWeb corpus for: who|that|which had been _vvg gives us the most common continuous verbs found in past perfect continuous relative

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past perfect continuous + adverb ‘had already been doing’

B2 English Grammar Profile point 76 in the category of PAST is: past perfect continuous WITH ADVERBS in the normal mid position For example: I had just been doing some reading. listen An iWeb search for: had _rr been _vvg 1 HAD ALREADY BEEN WORKING 359 2 HAD ALREADY BEEN USING 210 3 HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN USING 122 4 HAD ALSO

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IF meaning WHETHER

The words “if” and “whether” are both used to introduce indirect questions or to express doubt or uncertainty. However, there are some differences in their usage: Conditional vs. Choice: “If” is primarily used to introduce conditional clauses or to express a condition that must be met for something else to happen. It implies a cause-and-effect

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NEVER BEFORE + perfect inversion

‘never + inversion‘ is B2 with or without past perfect.  The following examples use present perfect simple + inversion: Never before has man possessed so much power. listen Never before have so many people risen so far so fast, on so many different dimensions. listen Here’s an example with past perfect inversion without ‘before’: Never had I felt such an incomprehensible emptiness within myself. listen In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 68 in  PAST is defined as: past perfect

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(time conjunction) + past perfect continuous

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 67 in the category of PAST is defined as: past perfect continuous after a time conjunction to give background information. For example: This was just a few months after Ebola had been terrifying the world. listen 1 AFTER IT HAD BEEN SITTING 46   WOAI She and her stepfather restored the bike themselves after it had

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