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 »
Much to my surprise, and Much to the surprise of someone, are ‘comment adverbial phrases’. This structure is not listed in the English Vocabulary or Grammar Profile, so we turn to the Longman dictionary: FORMAL used to say that someone feels very surprised, embarrassed etc when something happens A search in NOW corpus for: .
MUCH TO + possessive noun phrase Read More »
Students often ask me “what is the comparative of much?” I am guessing that they want to know about ‘much’ as an adverb meaning ‘nearly’ or ‘approximately’. (It has many forms) In which case, I would say that ‘more’ is the comparative of ‘much’. And for that matter, the superlative is ‘most’. For example: They
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At C2, in the English Vocabulary Profile, the INFORMAL phrase ‘so much for’ + noun phrase is defined: used to say that something has not been useful or successful The Cambridge dictionary: used to express disappointment at the fact that a situation is not as you thought it was A search in COCA 1 .
so much for (informal) Read More »
Here’s a student example of a determiner + uncountable noun: My teacher told me “enjoy the music and you will dance naturally.” PELIC Taiwanese female level 3 writing class A2 point 18 in the category of NOUNS is defined: form simple noun phrases by pre-modifying nouns with an increasing range of determiners. A2 point 24 in the category of NOUNS: form
determiner + noun phrase (increasing range) Read More »
‘double, treble, quadruple’ can be multiplying predeterminers. They come before other determiners in a noun phrase. For example, ‘double the national average.’ Bloomberg.com New York City‘s unemployment rate was nearly double the national average in June. Other multiplying expressions: He earns three times more than me. She gets paid nearly three times as much as me. *In the English Vocabulary Profile, B1 if followed by a comparative structure. We can’t be
mutiplying predeterminer + noun phrase Read More »
This passage discusses the use of “a lot” and “much” as subject pronouns in English. It provides examples of how these words are used in sentences, as well as the frequency with which they appear in the iWeb corpus. The passage also discusses the C1 and C2 levels of these words in the EGP and EVP.
A LOT | MUCH (subject pronouns) Read More »
In negative contexts, “much” and “many” denote a small amount or number of uncountable and countable nouns respectively. “Any” implies the absence of something, applicable to both countable and uncountable nouns. For instance, “Not many companies can build planes” implies a small number of such companies. “There’s not much difference between them” suggests a minimal difference. “I don’t have any apples” means zero apples are present.
not + any | many | much + NOUN Read More »
Comparative clauses using ‘be’ + ‘like’ + a noun phrase are used to draw similarities between two things. The structure is typically: subject + be + like + noun/pronoun. For example, in the sentence “John is like a lion”, John is being compared to a lion, suggesting that he has similar qualities or characteristics. This structure can also be used with negation or adverbs followed by an infinitive clause, as in “It would be just like him to forget his keys at home”, indicating that forgetting his keys would be typical behavior for him. The phrase “I was like” is used colloquially to express a reaction or feeling. For instance, “When I saw the test results, I was like, ‘I can’t believe I aced it!’” expresses surprise and disbelief. This structure is common in English and can be found in various forms in different contexts.
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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
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We use too before an adjective or adverb to mean ‘more than we need or want’. For example:
This shirt is too big for me.
You are driving too fast.
We use too much or too many before a noun to mean ‘more than we need or want’. For example:
There is too much sugar in this cake. (uncountable noun)
There are too many people in this room. (countable noun)
We use so much or so many before a noun to mean ‘a large amount of something’. For example:
I have so much work to do. (uncountable noun)
She has so many friends. (countable noun)
In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 40 in the category of DETERMINERS/quantity is defined as: ‘much’ with uncountable nouns in interrogative contexts. A search in iWeb corpus for: much _NN1 ? 1 MUCH MONEY ? 942 2 MUCH FUN ? 462 3 MUCH WATER ? 400 4 MUCH DIFFERENCE ? 352 5 MUCH POWER ? 289
MUCH + uncountable noun (question) Read More »
Yardbarker The Bears’ quarterback has been better of late, but not that much better. *’of late‘ means recently. Point 78 in ADJECTIVES/comparatives is defined as: ‘not that much’ to modify comparative adjectives to a small degree in iWeb: 1 NOT THAT MUCH BETTER 280 2 NOT THAT MUCH BIGGER 109 It’s just not that much bigger. gundogsupply.com (listen to a similar sentence) 3 NOT
‘He’s not that much better’ (not that much + COMPARATIVE) Read More »
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.
some | any | no | more | a lot of | lots of + NOUN phrase Read More »
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.
SO MUCH | A LOT adverbial phrases in end position Read More »
A search in playphrase.me for “so much as” reveals the following 3 most common collocations/multi-word units containing negative meaning or being surrounded with negation: You let your wife throw you out of your own house without so much as a whimper. listen to the example The phrase “without so much as a” means “not even the slightest amount of“. In the example above, it emphasizes that the
so much as | in as much as Read More »
1 ONLY (JJ) 15190271 2 ONLY (RR) 2915525 5 ONLY (CS) 5100 A search in iWeb corpus for: * only so many|much * 1 ‘S ONLY SO MUCH YOU 831 There’s only so much you can do with a BA in theater. Long Lost 2 IS ONLY SO MUCH YOU 712 3 ARE ONLY SO MANY HOURS 633 There are only so many hours in the day. Real Genius
A search on iWeb corpus for a much better _nn offers these most frequent B1 nouns: approach, bet, chance, choice, design, experience, method, mood, option, performance, position, product, quality, result, sense, situation, solution, system, user, value 1 A MUCH BETTER JOB 4957 2 A MUCH BETTER CHANCE 4140 The Motley Fool Canada Fortunately, those
a much better + NOUN Read More »
At A2 in the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary: a bit [singular] (used as an adverb) (especially British English) = rather; to some extent Here are comparative examples: You might need a bit more than that. Is that everything? I mean, it seemed like he said quite a bit more than that. Listen Now, let’s explain an expert example of the C1 grammar structure: ‘a bit’ + comparative adjective phrase. Remember that
(slightly | a bit | much) + COMPARATIVE Read More »
Point 169 in the category of MODALITY is defined as: ‘(much) more/less’ to modify ‘likely’ in a comparison. There is overlap with point 63 in ADVERB phrases: types and meanings at C1. degree adverbs (‘slightly’, ‘a bit’, ‘much‘) to modify comparatives A cluster search on iWeb for * * less|more likely * *: 1
more | less + likely Read More »
