Point 74 in the category of PAST is defined as: leave out the subject before the past perfect simple where it is understood from the previous clause. _c _had _vvn *However the common that clauses do not really locate ellipsis. 1 THAT HAD COME 3547 2 THAT HAD HAPPENED 3283 3 THAT HAD GONE 2900 […]
How can we formally find ‘if’ meaning ‘whether’? Generally the following infitives will precede ‘if’: ((?:kn[eo]w|matter|seen?|saw|care|wonder|tell|told|remember|determine|mind)\w*) + if 1 I (PPIS1 ) DO (VD0) N’T (XX) KNOW (VVI) IF (CSW@_CS) 79855 2 I (PPIS1 ) DO (VD0) NT (XX) KNOW (VVI) IF (CSW@_CS) 35004 3 IT (PPH1 ) DOES (VDZ) N’T (XX) MATTER (VVI) IF […]
The landscape can get muddy when it has been raining.
Point 67 in the category of PAST is defined as: past perfect continuous after a time conjunction to give background information. 1 AFTER IT HAD BEEN SITTING 46 WOAI She and her stepfather restored the bike themselves after it had been sitting inoperable for 10 years. Apr 2, 2020 2 AFTER HE HAD BEEN […]
Point 55 in PAST simple after ‘if’ as a politeness structure, especially in letters and emails. All the examples given in the EGP follow the structure: would be (_rg) _JJ _CS * _VVD Sadly, iWeb corpus software does not allow the above search because it is too wide for their software. Searching for collocates to […]
1 EXCEPT (II21) 293202 2 EXCEPT (CS) 258109 5 EXCEPT (CS21) 101718 6 EXCEPT (II) 26138 14 EXCEPT (VV0%) 638
1 RATHER (II21) 956100 2 RATHER (RG) 529786 ‘Rather’ as a degree adverb usually modifies an adjective. 1 BUT (CCB) RATHER (RG_RR@) A (AT1) 22044 2 A (AT1) RATHER (RG) LARGE (JJ) 7161 3 BUT (CCB) RATHER (RG_RR@) AN (AT1) 4810 4 IS (VBZ) RATHER (RG) A (AT1) 2921 5 , (,) RATHER (RG_RR@) A […]
The word ‘that’ is almost always a subordinating conjunction between a verb and determiner. The main exceptions have been highlighted. 1 IS (VBZ) THAT (CST) THIS (DD1) 60964 2 NOTE (VV0) THAT (CST) THIS (DD1) 50064 3 ENSURE (VVI) THAT (CST) ALL (DB) 29111 4 IS (VBZ) THAT (CST) THESE (DD2) 26839 5 IS (VBZ) […]
1 THAT (DD1) ‘S (VBZ) 2910658 6 THAT (CST) ‘S (VBZ) 46519 8 THAT (DD1) ‘S (VHZ) 15994 9 THAT (CST) ‘S (VHZ) 12804
It is much more common to follow an indefinite pronoun with ‘THAT’ as a conjunction. ‘That’ as a determiner is less common. 1 SOMETHING (PN1) THAT (CST) 806036 2 ONE (PN1) THAT (CST) 546938 3 ANYTHING (PN1) THAT (CST) 216969 4 EVERYTHING (PN1) THAT (CST) 172404 6 SOMEONE (PN1) THAT (CST) 46752 7 NOTHING (PN1) […]