A2

At A2, English learners can understand short, simple texts on familiar matters of a concrete type which consist of high frequency, everyday or job-related language. Students can understand short, simple texts containing the highest frequency vocabulary, including a proportion of shared international vocabulary items.

This page includes posts related to A2 grammar in chronological order. To see a full list of all A2 grammar in categories, click here.

some | any | no | more | a lot of | lots of + NOUN phrase

A1, A2, DETERMINERS, NOUNS, plural, quantity, uncountable

In this post, we give a detailed explanation of the use of certain determiners in English grammar, specifically ‘some’, ‘any’, ‘no’, ‘more’, ‘a lot of’, and ‘lots of’. These determiners are often used with both plural and uncountable nouns to indicate quantity or amount. We also discuss the English Grammar Profile (EGP) and its classification of these determiners at different proficiency levels (A1, A2). We provide examples of usage and notes on the application of these.

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Level 2 writing texts in PELIC

A1, A2, writing

The text discusses the process of analyzing the grammar and vocabulary of elementary English learners using a ‘complexity checker’. The checker struggles with inaccurate language and spelling errors. After manual corrections, over 90% of the structures were at the A levels. The author wishes to add a collocation marking element to the checker but acknowledges the limitations of programming capacity.

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JUST

A2, ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS, DETERMINERS, intensity

The word ‘just’ is most often used as a general adverb. Here are a few examples that showcase its usage in this context: “He’s just a beginner in playing the piano.” In this sentence, ‘just’ is used to convey that the person is only a beginner and implies a sense of being at the early

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ACROSS

A2, ADVERBS, PREPOSITIONS

The word ‘across’ is most often a preposition.  It can also be a locative adverb or adverb particle. Often the meaning is ‘opposite’: We‘ll be right across from you. listen   Tagging doesn’t always get it right.  THIS IS NOT A PHRASAL VERB (come across something).  For example: Police think the single shot came from across the street. listen 1 (II) As a preposition, ‘across’ precedes

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verb + general ADVERB + indefinite article + noun phrase

A2, ADVERBS, article, complements, VERBS

A search in iWeb corpus for: _V _RR _AT1 1 IS ALSO A 431112 It is also a legal requirement in most countries,  but above everything else,  it helps every business and every organization become more inclusive.   2 IS (VBZ) JUST (RR) A (AT1) 186187 3 IS (VBZ) STILL (RR) A (AT1) 126059 4 IS (VBZ) ALWAYS (RR) A (AT1) 99232 5 WAS (VBDZ) ALSO (RR) A (AT1) 98531 6 ‘S (VBZ) JUST (RR)

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SO MUCH | A LOT adverbial phrases in end position

A2, ADVERBS, amount, B1, cause, consequence, degree, emphasis, end, frequency, intensity, modify, position, result, VERBS

The text discusses the use of “so much” and “a lot” as adverbs of degree in English grammar. These phrases modify verbs to indicate a high degree or intensity of an action. For example, in the sentence “You bother me a lot”, “a lot” intensifies the verb “bother”. Similarly, in “He loved it so much that he continued to show up every week”, “so much” intensifies “loved” and the phrase “so much that” establishes a cause-effect relationship between the high degree of love and the action of showing up every week.

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BEFORE

A2, ADVERBS, CONJUNCTIONS, PAST, PREPOSITIONS, subordinate, time

“Before” is a versatile word in English, functioning as a preposition, subordinating conjunction, and time adverb. As a preposition, it connects a noun or pronoun to another word, indicating something happens earlier than the time or event mentioned. As a subordinating conjunction, it connects two clauses, showing a relationship between them. As a time adverb, it modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb to indicate when something happens. Examples from various corpora illustrate these uses.

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ONCE phrases

A2, ADVERBS, CONJUNCTIONS, DETERMINERS, frequency, phrases, time

Words like ‘once’ and ‘twice’ can be predeterminers as multipliers.  For example: “Once every two weeks”  “Twice a day” A search in the iWeb corpus for: once _AT1 _NNT 1 ONCE A WEEK 75774 We are proposing to meet at least once a week  and just to do as many collections as we can. listen 2 ONCE A MONTH 44242 3 ONCE A YEAR 43510 4 ONCE A DAY

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ALL | SOME | BOTH | HALF + OF + noun phrase

A2, DETERMINERS, NOUNS, phrases, PRONOUNS, quantity

Here’s an example of determiners premodifying nouns: I regret some of the things I said to you. A2 point 18 in the category of NOUNS/phrases is defined: form simple noun phrases by pre-modifying nouns with an increasing range of determiners. A2 point 17 in the category of PRONOUNS: limited range of pronouns (‘all’, ‘both’) with ‘of’ followed by an object pronoun, to

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PRESENT SIMPLE with ADVERBS of FREQUENCY

A1, A2, ADVERBS, frequency, indefinite, modify, PRESENT, range, simple

Adverbs of indefinite frequency, such as ‘sometimes’, ‘occasionally’, ‘usually’, ‘normally’, ‘regularly’, and ‘often’, are commonly used with the present simple tense to indicate routine or repeated activities without specifying exact timing. These adverbs typically precede the main verb but follow the verb ‘to be’ and auxiliary verbs. They can also be positioned at the beginning or end of a sentence in some cases. The webpage provides examples of these usages in various contexts, including TED talks and student writings.

In contrast, definite adverbs of frequency, like ‘yearly’, ‘weekly’, ‘every hour’, and ‘every day’, provide exact frequencies and usually appear at the end of a sentence. The webpage also highlights the overlap and differences in the usage of these adverbs at different language proficiency levels (A1 and A2).

Furthermore, it presents common collocates for the adverb ‘usually’ and examples of sentences using ‘often’. The examples illustrate common behaviors or thought processes, suggesting that these adverbs are integral to expressing frequency in English.

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will be + VERBing (future continuous)

A2, arrangements, B1, certainty, confirming, continuous, expectation, FUTURE, indirect, informal, MODALITY, plan, polite, will

The future continuous tense, used in sentences like “Sarah will be joining us for dinner,” indicates a planned or confirmed action that will occur over a period in the future. It expresses certainty about the future and is often used when the action is expected to happen as a matter of course. While usually not used with stative verbs, exceptions exist, especially in informal contexts. For instance, “I guess I’ll be needing a receipt off you there, Red” is a polite, indirect request.

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