VVN

The CLAWS7 tag:

VVN 

refers to a past participle of lexical VERB (given, worked)

  • Past particles are used in forming the perfect and passive forms or can be used as adjectives.
  • A participle is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives.

‘It should be noted that’ (passives to summarise)

In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 36 in the category of PASSIVES is defined as: ‘it’ as a dummy subject, to summarise or evaluate in discussions, usually in formal or academic writing. This point often overlaps C1 impersonal modal passive reporting. *This might clash with B2. A search of the formal patterns found in the

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‘GET’ + OBJECT + PAST PARTICPLE

C1 English Grammar Profile point 35 in PASSIVES is defined as: ‘get’ + object + ‘-ed’ to talk about causing or instructing something to happen or to be done by somebody else, often informally For example: Now, as it happens, I do have some connections in the drilling business who might help get us started. listen Here are the other forms of ‘GET’: He got his friend fired by revealing their

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It can | could + be + said | argued | concluded | considered

The pronoun ‘it’ can be used where the subject is unclear at C1, and verbs such as ‘conclude’ are only used by C1 learners.  For example: It was concluded that it never existed. However, this post is about reporting with modal verbs. C1 point 208 in MODALITY is defined as: ‘can’ in passive reporting clauses in a more formal impersonal

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need not have | needn’t have + PAST PARTICPLE

In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 205 in MODALITY is defined as: PAST, NEGATIVE: ‘needn’t have’ + ‘-ed It means that somebody did something, but it was not necessary.  Also, note that uncontracted ‘not’ is possible. Here are two examples: You needn’t have come so far, Asgardian. listen In fact, she need not have hurried. TED Well, we needn’t have worried. A search in iWeb:

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will + ADVERB + have + PAST PARTICIPLE

C1 English Grammar Profile point 61 in FUTURE is defined as: future perfect simple with adverbs in the normal mid-position For example: Something somewhere will always have changed.   An iWeb search for: will _R have _VVN 1 WILL PROBABLY HAVE NOTICED 102 Forbes How To Make This E-Commerce Holiday Season Your Best Yet Anyone shopping in-store will probably have noticed the first few holiday decorations being put up. 2 WILL

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if + PAST PERFECT + MODAL VERBS

C1 point 112 in CLAUSES/conditional is defined as: Conditional subordinate clauses with ‘if’ + the past perfect simple and modal verb + ‘have’ + ‘-ed’ in the main clause, to talk about imagined situations in the past, often with regret. *Note the same definition with ‘would‘ is listed at B1!  Basically, this means that for

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ALTHOUGH | THOUGH + non-finite clause

In the English Grammar Profile, C2 point 131 in CLAUSES/subordinated is defined as: non-finite clauses after subordinating conjunctions ‘(although, though)’, to express contrast. … although married, my mother decided not to leave…  Although committed to her job she successfully maintains her social contacts… Jack, though disappointed, respects the result. The EGP examples above, use Past Participles, but the definition above does not mention them as being critical to this as a C2 structure. *The tagging might make mistakes

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NON-FINITE past participle CLAUSES

In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 7 in the category of FOCUS is defined as: non-finite subordinate clause with an ‘-ed’ form, before a main clause, for focus, often in formal, academic or business contexts. Also see Pearson’s 76 GSE C1: add information using appended clauses with ‘being’ and/or passive participles. Given enough time, she‘ll do

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‘It is said that …’ (IT + passive)

Let’s take a look at an IELTS writing task 2 example with this grammar: It is argued that volunteering should be made a part of the school curriculum. In the above example, ‘is argued‘ forms the passive part.  The active form of this is probably: ‘People argue that…” In our example, ‘people’ is not important or maybe we don’t know who

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