noun phrase – article adverb adjective noun

Although the English Grammar Profile offers good evidence of what structures students can do at each level, it should be remembered that the examples that the students provide are not good examples to teach with.  Indeed, they are sometimes very rare combinations.  We can see that when we look at the same grammar patterns in the iWeb corpus.  Compare for example “a very important meeting” which comes from a student and found only 149 times to “a very long time” which appears 45,254.

There is also a clash of levels between A1 and B1 when deciding on how to place “very” within this structure. The example for B1 could easily meet the criteria of A1.  In the English Grammar Profile, point 54 in the category of Adjectives, under modifying at B1 is ADJECTIVE PHRASE + NOUN attributively which means before a noun.

• … my boss told me that at 10.15 am I have a very important meeting. (frequency in iWeb = 149)
• … she’s also a really good friend. (756)

However, point 8 in Determiners in A1,  ‘a’ + ‘very’ + adjectives in basic noun phrases. ► adverbs ► noun phrases

• He’s a very good man.  (frequency in iWeb 423 )
• It is a very beautiful place. (255)
• It’s a very nice town. (48)

A search for _a _r _jj _n in the iWeb corpus:

Superlatives are to the right

1 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) THING (NN1) 69789

2 A VERY LONG TIME  45254

3 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) PART (NN1) 22968
4 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) THINGS (NN2) 20263
5 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) EFFECTIVE (JJ) WAY (NN1) 16378
6 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) TYPE (NN1) 13960
7 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) CAUSE (NN1) 13079
8 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) FACTOR (NN1) 10862

 

9 A (AT1) VERY (RG) YOUNG (JJ) AGE (NN1) 9693

10 A (AT1) VERY (RG) SHORT (JJ) TIME (NNT1) 9452

11 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) FORM (NN1) 9399

12 A (AT1) VERY (RG) GOOD (JJ) JOB (NN1) 9099

13 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) ASPECT (NN1) 8918
14 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) EFFICIENT (JJ) WAY (NN1) 8882

15 A (AT1) PRETTY (RG_JJ) GOOD (JJ) JOB (NN1) 8596

16 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) ASPECTS (NN2) 8305

17 A (AT1) VERY (RG) IMPORTANT (JJ) PART (NN1) 8189

18 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) EFFECTIVE (JJ) WAYS (NN2) 7705

19 A (AT1) VERY (RG) SMALL (JJ) AMOUNT (NN1) 7631

20 A (AT1) PRETTY (RG_JJ) GOOD (JJ) IDEA (NN1) 7444

21 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) CAUSES (NN2) 7391
22 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) TYPES (NN2) 6978
23 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) FACTORS (NN2) 6864

24 A (AT1) VERY (RG) GOOD (JJ) IDEA (NN1) 6519

25 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) WAY (NN1) 6310

26 A (AT1) REALLY (RR) LONG (JJ) TIME (NNT1) 6187

27 THE (AT) VERY (RG) NEAR (JJ@) FUTURE (NN1_JJ) 6182

28 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) QUESTIONS (NN2) 6145
29 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) RECENT (JJ) VERSION (NN1) 6117
30 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) REASON (NN1) 5953
31 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) PARTS (NN2) 5836
32 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) DIFFICULT (JJ) PART (NN1) 5822

33 A (AT1) VERY (RG) GOOD (JJ) CHANCE (NN1) 5547

34 A (AT1) REALLY (RR) GOOD (JJ) JOB (NN1) 5445

35 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) REASONS (NN2) 5340

 

36 YOUR (APPGE) PERSONALLY (RR) IDENTIFIABLE (JJ) INFORMATION (NN1) 5336

37 A (AT1) VERY (RG) SHORT (JJ) PERIOD (NN1) 5147

38 A (AT1) MUCH (RR) BETTER (JJR) JOB (NN1) 4871

39 A (AT1) VERY (RG) GOOD (JJ) THING (NN1) 4854
40 A (AT1) VERY (RG) GOOD (JJ) REASON (NN1) 4775
41 A (AT1) VERY (RG) SMALL (JJ) NUMBER (NN1) 4620

42 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) SYMPTOMS (NN2) 4458

43 A (AT1) VERY (RG) IMPORTANT (JJ) ROLE (NN1) 4390
44 A (AT1) VERY (RG) HIGH (JJ) STANDARD (NN1_JJ) 4376
45 A (AT1) VERY (RG) REASONABLE (JJ) PRICE (NN1) 4325
46 A (AT1) VERY (RG) DIFFICULT (JJ) TIME (NNT1) 4287
47 A (AT1) VERY (RG) LARGE (JJ) NUMBER (NN1) 4259

48 A (AT1) MUCH (RR) BETTER (JJR) CHANCE (NN1) 4113

49 A (AT1) VERY (RG) HARD (JJ) TIME (NNT1) 4078

50 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) STEP (NN1) 4022

51 A (AT1) REALLY (RR) HARD (JJ) TIME (NNT1) 3724

52 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) UP-TO-DATE (JJ) INFORMATION (NN1) 3654
53 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) ELEMENT (NN1) 3610

54 A (AT1) VERY (RG) EARLY (JJ) AGE (NN1) 3538
55 A (AT1) VERY (RG) LONG (JJ) WAY (NN1) 3514
56 A (AT1) REALLY (RR) GOOD (JJ) IDEA (NN1) 3500
57 A (AT1) RELATIVELY (RR) SHORT (JJ) PERIOD (NN1) 3491
58 A (AT1) VERY (RG) SMALL (JJ) PERCENTAGE (NN1) 3486
59 A (AT1) VERY (RG) HIGH (JJ) QUALITY (NN1) 3454

60 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) SIDE (NN1) 3417
61 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) ELEMENTS (NN2) 3368
62 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) PROBLEMS (NN2) 3336
63 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) QUESTION (NN1) 3299
64 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) METHOD (NN1) 3267

65 A (AT1) VERY (RG) WIDE (JJ) RANGE (NN1) 3266

66 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) INFORMATION (NN1) 3210
67 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) INTERESTING (JJ) THING (NN1) 3126
68 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) FEATURES (NN2) 3083
69 A (AT1) MORE (RGR) ACTIVE (JJ) ROLE (NN1) 3041

70 A (AT1) RELATIVELY (RR) SMALL (JJ) NUMBER (NN1) 3014

71 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) WAYS (NN2) 2984
72 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) PIECE (NN1) 2963
73 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) MISTAKES (NN2) 2962
74 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) INTERESTING (JJ) PART (NN1) 2923

75 A (AT1) VERY (RG) HIGH (JJ) LEVEL (NN1) 2916

76 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) BEAUTIFUL (JJ) PLACES (NN2) 2900
77 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) ONES (NN2) 2893

78 A (AT1) VERY (RG) USEFUL (JJ) TOOL (NN1) 2831

79 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) LIKELY (JJ) CAUSE (NN1) 2829
80 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) CURRENT (JJ) VERSION (NN1) 2820

81 A (AT1) RELATIVELY (RR) SHORT (JJ) TIME (NNT1) 2819
82 A (AT1) VERY (RG) GOOD (JJ) WAY (NN1) 2790

83 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) RECENT (JJ) DATA (NN) 2758
84 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) DIFFICULT (JJ) THING (NN1) 2729

85 A (AT1) VERY (RG) SPECIAL (JJ) PLACE (NN1) 2723

86 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) WONDERFUL (JJ) TIME (NNT1) 2704

87 A (AT1) PRETTY (RG_JJ) GOOD (JJ) DEAL (NN1) 2663

88 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) MEAL (NN1) 2638
89 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) USE (NN1) 2623

90 A (AT1) VERY (RG) EFFECTIVE (JJ) WAY (NN1) 2602

91 A (AT1) MORE (RGR) EFFICIENT (JJ) WAY (NN1) 2585
92 A (AT1) MUCH (RR) BETTER (JJR) IDEA (NN1) 2565

93 A (AT1) VERY (RG) GOOD (JJ) POINT (NN1) 2549

94 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) FEATURE (NN1) 2548
95 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) AMAZING (JJ) THING (NN1) 2545

96 A (AT1) VERY (RG) HIGH (JJ) LEVEL (NN1_JJ) 2539

97 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) POINT (NN1) 2536

98 A (AT1) PRETTY (RG_JJ) GOOD (JJ) CHANCE (NN1) 2518

99 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) COMMON (JJ) ONES (NN2) 2510
100 THE (AT) MOST (RGT) IMPORTANT (JJ) PERSON (NN1) 2505