BE + adjective (increasing range)

In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 16 in ADJECTIVES/position is defined as:

increasing range of adjectives predicatively, after ‘be’.

*This grammar point is better expanded in the English Vocabulary Profile because it offers more detail about vocabulary.  In addition, we could not find any related EGP or EVP points related to when students can use ‘weren’t’ which seems to be a harder construction than A1.


A search on iWeb for _VB _JJ 

*note that not all of the following are ‘predicative’

1 BE SURE 833740 B2 MODALITY

I can’t be sure about the others.

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2 IS AVAILABLE 810530

That position is available to any qualified applicant.

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Here are the results 3-50 grouped by topic by AI:

Availability

  • 3 ARE AVAILABLE 797442
  • 7 BE AVAILABLE 424771
  • 32 IS FREE 200334
  • 33 IS OPEN 194893

Certainty

  • 15 ‘M SURE 282916
  • 14 IS TRUE 294148
  • 13 IS LIKELY 295107

Difficulty

  • 37 BE DIFFICULT 180992
  • 38 ‘S HARD 179368
  • 35 IS HARD 187134
  • 44 IS DIFFICULT 163233

Importance

  • 4 IS IMPORTANT 780459
  • 16 ‘S IMPORTANT 259352
  • 20 IS NECESSARY 247948
  • 27 IS ESSENTIAL 220828

Quality

  • 6 IS GOOD 427370
  • 8 IS GREAT 412719
  • 21 ARE GREAT 244405
  • 22 IS PERFECT 241843
  • 29 BE GOOD 216762
  • 30 ARE GOOD 212262

Readiness

  • 39 ARE READY 176733
  • 47 BE READY 159615
  • 49 IS READY 156644

Uniqueness

  • 5 IS ONLY 690395
  • 11 ARE ONLY 321087
  • 19 WAS ONLY 248507

50 IS FULL 156258

 

The first time [when] I came here, I thought America is full of criminals, 

and it’s impossible to go out in America alone at night because of the serial killers that I saw in the American movies.

PELIC STUDENT Arabic Male level 5 writing class

51 BE USEFUL 151822
52 BE RESPONSIBLE 150336
53 IS SIMILAR 147688
54 BE POSSIBLE 147291
55 IS SIMPLE 145981

The objects of this story are simple enough.

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56 BE ELIGIBLE 145491
57 ARE RESPONSIBLE 145165
58 ARE IMPORTANT 139688
59 BE TRUE 137330
60 ARE FREE 136199

I‘m in charge and you are free to go.

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61 IS IDEAL 135246
62 BE NICE 134132
63 BE HELPFUL 132596
64 BE INTERESTED 131483
65 AM SURE 130653
66 ARE WILLING 128966
67 ‘S ONLY 128170
68 IS SUPPOSED 127177
69 IS CRITICAL 126004
70 BE HARD 125544
71 WAS GOOD 125325
72 IS COMPLETE 123166
73 ‘S GOOD 122350
74 IS WRONG 121357
75 IS AMAZING 119209
76 BE SUCCESSFUL 117045
77 IS FINE 116749
78 ARE EASY 115583
79 BE DIFFERENT 113176
80 BE EASY 111434
81 BE FINE 111377
82 IS KEY 111299
83 BE WILLING 111006
84 BE NECESSARY 110005
85 IS DUE 109399
86 ‘S GREAT 107269
87 ‘S POSSIBLE 105486
88 ARE PERFECT 104840

It was perfect because the jock girls weren’t afraid of her.

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89 IS SAFE 104732
90 BE AFRAID 104030
91 IS CORRECT 103840
92 ARE ELIGIBLE 103098
93 ARE HAPPY 102167
94 BE SURPRISED 102042
95 IS CAPABLE 101846
96 IS IMPOSSIBLE 101165
97 IS USEFUL 100070
98 WAS SUPPOSED 98888
99 BE INTERESTING 95512
100 IS WELL 95499


A2 adjectives found in the above search, in iWeb, by frequency:

1 SURE 6607302
2 AVAILABLE 6447897
3 FREE 5689543
4 FULL 5075017
5 SIMPLE 3044871
6 PERFECT 3004079
7 COMPLETE 2979858
8 TRUE 2743143
9 CLEAR 2561201
10 AMAZING 1748093
11 INTERESTED 1453752
12 USEFUL 1378325
13 CORRECT 1298140
14 SURPRISED 576479
15 CAREFUL 557249
16 AFRAID 474291

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