When “not” is used before an adverb, it typically forms a negative construction that modifies the action or verb it is associated with. This construction is used to indicate the absence or negation of the quality or manner expressed by the adverb. Next, we want to know the most common adverbs in this position, so […]
Here’s an example of the time phrase that means the person is at the age of 20-29: I‘m not even in my twenties anymore. NSFW This phrase is B2 in the English Vocabulary Profile: (be) in your eighties to be aged between 80 and 89 the eighties the years from 1980-1989 A search in iWeb corpus for: _I
preposition + determiner + plural numeral 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
comparative of much Read More »
In the English Vocabulary Profile, the adverbial phrase ‘at random’ is listed at C1 with the meaning: chosen by chance For example: So we‘ll choose one at random then. listen A collocate search in the iWeb corpus: 1 CHOSEN 4713 2 SELECTED 4295 3 TIMES 2328 4 DRAWN 1694 5 PICKED 1493 6 PICK 1155 7 WINNER 1068
This grammar structure is unlisted in the English Grammar Profile. A search in iWeb corpus for _JJ of * TO _VVI 1 UNSURE OF WHAT TO EXPECT 258 2 UNSURE OF WHERE TO START 230 3 NICE OF YOU TO SAY 181 4 UNSURE OF HOW TO PROCEED 152 5 AWARE OF WHAT TO EXPECT
adjective + of + object + to-infinitive Read More »
First, I’d like to say that I love using the following resource with my ESL classes. However, I was recently interested to see how the website “Breaking News English” adds levels to their texts. I know it is not easy to take news items and then bring them down to an English learner’s level for
Breaking News English Read More »
The verb ‘wish’ is in the English Vocabulary Profile at B1 with the meaning: to want a situation that is different from the one that exists There is no other entry using it with ‘would’. But there is mention in the English Grammar Profile of using ‘wish’ with past forms. ‘would’ can be considered as
Let’s look at two of the most common verbs in English followed by adverbs. In the English Vocabulary Profile at B1: go badly/well, etc. = develop in a particular way do badly/well = to be unsuccessful/successful For example: When things go wrong, do you think they‘re gonna be there for us? listen You do not do well in school, that is because you are too clever. listen An iWeb search for: DO _RR _I 1 DO SO IN 30223 2 DO
Listed at A2 in the English Vocabulary Profile: go + verb-ing to go somewhere to do a particular activity For example: If you guys aren’t doing anything, we‘re all gonna go surfing. listen An iWeb search for: GO _VVG 1 GO SHOPPING 15263 ‘GO SHOPPING’ is listed at A1. Yeah, that‘s a good idea, because I was gonna go shopping for a wheelchair anyway. 2 WENT MISSING 12104 ‘GO MSSING’ is not an activity,
Let’s look at the most frequent ‘to infinitives’ on the internet in the top 100 verbs. Our research is by doing a search in iWeb for _TO _VVI At A2, ‘keep’ stands out. We have put in bold the most frequent collocations too: I’m trying hard to keep my family out of my life. Cat Run At B1, ‘create’ is the most frequent. The
On this website, ing forms are best located in our posts by searching for the tag: VVG A search in the iWeb corpus for _VVG gives the most common ing forms as follows: 1 USING 9077632 2 GOING 8570578 3 MAKING 4986719 4 LOOKING 4903064 5 WORKING 4440144 6 GETTING 4427697 7 TAKING 3186185 8
Here’s an example of this academic collocation: And this data is key because it really helps cities understand where people are using, how to allocate resources and the effectiveness of programming over time. A search in iWeb for allocat* resourc* 1 ALLOCATE RESOURCES 3008 2 ALLOCATING RESOURCES 1467 3 ALLOCATED RESOURCES 470 4 ALLOCATES RESOURCES 340 5 ALLOCATED RESOURCE 44 A collocate search in COCA for allocate resources: 1 HOW 19 2 EFFICIENTLY 9
ALLOCATE RESOURCES 3008 Read More »
‘your native language or tongue’ is B2 in the English Vocabulary Profile with the meaning: ‘the first language you learn.’ For example: Now, they speak English but it‘s not their native language, they‘d rather not speak English. TED A collocate search for _APPGE native language|tongue in COCA: 1 LANGUAGE 566 2 THEIR 412 3 TONGUE 3004 ENGLISH 80 5 SPEAK 53 6 SPEAKING 28 7 SPANISH
their native + language | tongue Read More »
‘in the long run’ is B2 in the English Vocabulary Profile with the meaning at a time that is far away in the future A search for collocates of ‘in the long run’ in the COCA: 1 MONEY 200 2 CHEAPER 58 3 EFFECTIVE 38 4 BENEFIT 30 5 SUSTAINABLE 27 6 SURVIVE 25 7
In the English Vocabulary Profile, there are 3 levels for the phrase ‘associate with‘. B2 to be related to something or caused by something C1 [T] to connect someone or something in your mind with someone or something else C2 to spend time with a group of people, especially people who are disapproved of It
The verb ‘assert’ is C1 in the English Vocabulary Profile: [T] FORMAL to say that something is certainly true ‘assert yourself’ is C2: to behave or speak in a strong, confident way For example: Bright Side Of The Sun The Suns began to assert themselves midway through the fourth. or ‘assert your authority/control/independence, etc.’ is also C2: to do something
BE SURE THAT YOU ARE
BE AWARE THAT IF YOU
BE + adjective + THAT clause 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
‘if you ask me’ is C2 in the English Vocabulary Profile and is used to give opinions. For example: And it‘s about damned time if you ask me. listen Collocations of ‘if you ask me’ in COCA show that this is used mostly to give negative opinions. 1 STUPID 10 2 NICELY 9 3 BS 6 4 DUMB
The difference between “it remains there” and “there it remains” is mainly in the word order and the emphasis. “It remains there” is a normal sentence with the subject “it” followed by the verb “remains” and the adverb “there”. It means that something continues to exist or stay in a certain place. “There it remains”
