At C2 in the English Vocabulary Profile: work out = to understand something or to find the answer to something by thinking about it A search in NOW corpus for which ‘question words’ follow phrasal verbs: work out _*Q 1 WORK OUT HOW 12286 Just give us five minutes, Mr Poirot, and I‘m sure we‘ll be able to work out how you did it. listen 2 WORK OUT WHAT: I […]
phrasal verb + clause ‘work out how you did it’ Read More »
‘fast’ means ‘completely’ when used with the adjective ‘asleep’ This phrase is C2 in the English Vocabulary Profile. For example: Look, Charlie, she‘s fast asleep. listen A NOW corpus collocates search for ‘fast asleep’ 1 WAS 1032 2 WERE 498 3 WHEN 376 4 WHILE 181 5 BED 114 6 FELL 59 7 BABY 41 8 ROOM
Defining relative clauses, also known as restrictive relative clauses, provide essential information about the noun they refer to. This information is crucial for defining or restricting the meaning of the noun.
When the noun refers to a person, ‘who’ is often used as the subject of a defining relative clause. For example, in the sentence “The woman who lives next door is a doctor,” ‘who’ is the subject of the clause and refers back to ‘the woman’. The clause “who lives next door” provides essential information about which woman is being referred to.
On the other hand, ‘that’ can also be used as a subject in defining relative clauses when referring to both people and things. For instance, in the sentence “He’s the man that saw me yesterday,” ‘that’ refers to ‘the man’, and the clause “that saw me yesterday” tells us which man is being referred to.
WHO | THAT subject pronouns in defining relative clauses Read More »
Here are some examples of adverbs in mid position:
Subject + adverb + main verb:
The students quickly finished their homework.
The train slowly pulled into the station.
The dog eagerly ate its food.
Modal verb/auxiliary verb/be + adverb + main verb:
I could easily solve the problem.
She has already eaten breakfast.
The book was clearly written.
adverbs in mid position Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, C2 point 117 in the category of PRONOUNS/quantity is defined as: complex noun phrases using an inverted form ‘Many’ + ‘are’ + noun phrase, followed by a relative clause, as a focusing device. FOR EXAMPLE: NBC News Covid is having a devastating impact on children — and the vaccine won’t
Many are the + NOUN + RELATIVE CLAUSE Read More »
A defining relative clause is a type of clause that gives essential information about a noun or noun phrase. It usually follows the noun it modifies and is introduced by a relative pronoun, such as who, which, that, where, or whose. When the noun relates to time, we can use when as the relative pronoun.
defining relative clause (time) Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, C2 point 66 in the category of FUTURE is defined as: INVERSION present simple with ‘only when’ (followed by ‘will’ and inverted subject) to refer to the future. A search on Google News: The Irish Times Miriam Lord: Séamus the Dog beats Mary Lou to the hard questions “And
Only when + PRESENT SIMPLE + will INVERTED SUBJECT Read More »
C2 FOCUS | FORMAL | happened immediately before something else
HARDLY HAD + inversion Read More »
Fixed expressions are phrases that have a specific meaning and are often used in spoken language. For example, “at the end of the day” or “all in all”.
When we put a fixed expression in the front position of a sentence, we create a focus on it. This means we want to emphasize or highlight the meaning of the expression.
At the end of the day (FOCUS EXPRESSIONS) Read More »
The landscape can get muddy when it has been raining.
present perfect continuous Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, there are two points that overlap. B2 point 55 is defined as: PAST simple after ‘if’ as a politeness structure, especially in letters and emails. B2 point 72 is defined as: the past simple with a range of subordinating conjunctions, including ‘as soon as’, ‘before’, ‘if’, ‘once’, ‘since’, ‘so’, ‘until’,
conjunction + past simple Read More »
‘When’ is most often a subordinating conjunction in the iWeb corpus. WHEN (CS) 8290974 (A2 conjunction) collocates in the movie corpus: 1 CAME 7116 She came by the hotel when I was leaving and she gave me this for you. The Shunning 2 COMES 6367 3 SAW 3620 4 GETS 2919 5 STARTED 2636 The next most common use is as a question adverb. WHEN (RRQ) 2397700 collocates 1 REMEMBER
EVEN WHEN | NO MATTER WHEN Read More »
In this post, we are most interested to find the most advanced uses of the word ‘even‘. At C1, The phrase “even so” is used to introduce a surprising fact or conclusion that contrasts with what has been said before. It can be used to express a sense of defiance or determination or to simply
A subordinating conjunction connects a sentence’s main clause and a subordinate clause. The subordinate clause (also known as an adverb clause) provides additional information explaining the when, where, how, or why of the main clause. “If, when & while” are sometimes interchangeable. In the sentence “It’s hard to have a girlfriend when you don’t have a
if | when | while | so + SUBORDINATE CLAUSE Read More »
These are just a few examples of general adverbs. There are many other adverbs that can be used in a variety of ways. By understanding how general adverbs work, you can improve your writing skills and make your sentences more clear and concise.
The most common geneRal adveRbs Read More »
