In this post, we explore long complex noun phrases in the object position after the verb ‘have‘. Here is a search in the iWeb corpus for: _VH _A _JJ _NN of 1 HAS A LONG HISTORY OF 12459 C1+ Huff Hoyle has a long history of bad business practices. listen 2 HAVE A WIDE RANGE OF 9459 B1 You have a wide range […]
HAVE + article + adjective + noun + OF Read More »
Why say “is of interest” instead of “is interesting“? ‘is of + noun‘ is more formal and in academic writing, we use the noun form of a word more often. More importantly, ‘of+noun’ functions as a noun in this position. Therefore, it can often collocate correctly with modifiers. For example: “greatest interest” is much more
BE + of NOUN PHRASE Read More »
In the English Vocabulary Profile at C1, YET from now and for a particular period of time in the future A search in the NOW corpus for: for a _JJ _NNT yet 1 FOR A LONG TIME YET 605 I‘m not gonna die for a long time yet. The Babadook 2 FOR A LITTLE WHILE YET 197 Dinner won’t be ready for a little while yet. Little Deaths 3
negative future + time period + YET Read More »
How is ‘little to‘ tagged in iWeb corpus? 1 LITTLE (DA1) TO (TO) 35055 determiner + infinitive Julie, if you just simmer down, you will see what has happened here has little to do with our relationship. NSFW example 6 LITTLE (JJ) TO (II) 6944 7 LITTLE (RR22) TO (II) 6395 adverbial phrase modifying prepositional phrase A little to the left, a little to the right, somebody could have gotten hurt. listen 19 LITTLE (JJ) TO (TO) 1272 23 LITTLE (RR)
There are many types of negative adverbials with inversion, that are not in the English Grammar Profile (EGP), so they should be listed at C2. For example: Seldom do orcs journey in the open under the sun, yet these have done so. Listen Examples of some vocabulary items in inversion can be found in the English Vocabulary Profile. For example: LITTLE (adverb) = C1 not
negative adverbials + inversion Read More »
The English Grammar Profile (EGP) claims that there are over 1000 grammar points in its inventory. However, there are numerous points that are overlapping. This post shows 3 posts that overlap and clash at other levels. B1 point 34 in the category of NOUNS is defined as: uncountable nouns with an increasing range of determiners/quantity
quantity phrase + uncountable noun Read More »
‘BIT’ related to quantity is countable = a bit of … bits of … For example: By inserting those genes into yeast, we could produce little bits of that smell and be able to, maybe, smell a little bit of something that‘s lost forever. TED A2 in the English Vocabulary Profile: bit = a small amount or piece of something B1 in the Oxford Learner Dictionary: [countable] bit of something (especially British English) a small
a little | bits of | a bit of | a bit of a | a little bit of Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 102 in PRONOUNS/quantity is defined: MODIFIED: ‘few’ and ‘many’ with ‘very’, ‘too’, ‘so’ as intensifiers For example: If the chef answered YES to the number being less than 500, we‘d have four options, which is too many. TED It‘s been a crushing disappointment for me and for so many. TED And very few have it in them. LISTEN *’very few’ + noun is B2 A search in iWeb for: * * too|very|so many|few . 1 THERE ARE SO MANY.
too | very | so + many | few Read More »
C2 highlight something, often in a positive way with demonstrative DETERMINERS:
‘this’ + noun + ‘of’ + possessive pronoun
(English Grammar Profile)
this + NOUN PHRASE + of + POSSESSIVE PRONOUN Read More »
Point 50 at B1 in the English Grammar Profile in the category of ADJECTIVES is defined as: ‘A (LITTLE) BIT’ to modify comparative adjectives used predicatively after a verb, usually ‘be’ However, ‘a little bit’ is considered as B2 in the EVP. And this B1 point also clashes completely with the C1 grammar point explained
a (little) bit + COMPARATIVE Read More »
B2: modify a following adjective with the meaning = to a small degree
a little + ADJECTIVE | ADVERB Read More »
B2 English Grammar point 59 in the category of DETERMINERS and quantity is defined as: modifier + ‘little’ + uncountable nouns and modifier + ‘few’ + countable nouns, to indicate a lack of something or not as much as expected of something. We also have an earlier post for ‘very few + noun.’ _RG\w* (little|few)
little | few + NOUN Read More »
