ADJECTIVES - English Grammar Profiler

6 ways to use ‘any + comparative’

ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS, B1, comparatives, NEGATIVE, QUESTIONS, vocabulary / any, JJ, JJR, RRR, XX

‘Any’ can be used as an adverb to mean ‘at all’ or ‘in some degree’. In the English Vocabulary Profile, ‘any’ is listed as ADVERB B1 used in questions and negatives to emphasize a comparative adjective or adverb Do you feel any better? I can’t walk any faster. Those trousers don’t look any different from the others. Houses in this area used to be a real bargain, but they’re not cheap any more. This radio isn’t any good – I ‘ll have to buy another. She couldn’t wait any longer. *’any more’ …

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‘be careful not to disturb them’ (adjective + ‘NOT TO’ + infinitive)

ADJECTIVES, C2, emphasis, MODALITY / cautioned, conceived, confused, disclose, exceed, impossible, JJ, make, miss, not, out, overdo, overload, proceed, pursue, sure, TLC, to, twist, VB, VVI, VVN

Here’s a student example in a speaking test of ‘BE + adjective + not + to-infinitive‘ to give emphasis: When you walk, you should be careful not to disturb them because they are all below you. TLC male Sri Lanka B1 *We can also write: You should be careful that you do not disturb them… Point 230 in the category of MODALITY is defined as: ‘BE’ + ADJECTIVE + ‘NOT’ …

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TO BE + adjective

ADJECTIVES, infinitive / aware, BE, JJ, need, of, to

Here are the top 100 examples of how ‘TO BE adjective” are used in English. These come from a search in iWeb corpus for TO BE _JJ 1 NEED TO BE AWARE OF 16993 We need to be aware of the data and information that we’re giving. Listen to this sentence. 2 . TO BE HONEST , 14943 3 TO BE HONEST …

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adjective AND adjective

A1, ADJECTIVES, combining / and, bad, best, big, bigger, black, blue, cheap, close, cold, different, easy, exciting, famous, fast, good, greatest, happy, hard, hot, JJ, left, long, new, old, open, poor, quick, red, right, safe, short, small, tired, used, well, white, young

Point 2 in the category of ADJECTIVES: COMBINING TWO ADJECTIVES: ‘and’ to join a limited range of common adjectives. An iWeb search for: _JJ and _JJ 1 BLACK AND WHITE 119795 2 QUICK AND EASY 85535 3 INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL 42909 4 NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL 42796 5 OLD AND NEW 35184 6 GOOD AND BAD …

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That’s + adjective !

A2, ADJECTIVES, demonstrative, PRONOUNS, response token / amazing, another, awesome, cool, crazy, fair, JJ, just, news, point, so, story, sure, that, true, VBZ

Point 38 in PRONOUNS/demonstratives is defined: RESPONSE TOKENS WITH ‘that’s’ + adjective to respond to something However, the EGP examples do not always contain an adjective: That’s great! That’s a pity! That’s a good idea! FOR EXAMPLE: Do you always go to the same place? Oh, that’s awesome! An iWeb search for: That _VBZ * ! 1 THAT ‘S IT ! 12397 2 THAT ‘S RIGHT ! …

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really | so | quite + ADJECTIVE

A2, ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS, degree, gradable / amazing, awesome, busy, called, clear, comfortable, cool, full, glad, high, interested, JJ, large, low, lucky, PELIC, pleased, popular, pretty, quite, really, RG, simple, so, SPECIAL, strong, sure, true, useful

Point 32 in the category of ADJECTIVES/modifying: adverbs of degree (‘really’, ‘so’, ‘quite’) with an increasing range of common gradable adjectives. PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE: I was so hungry, so I ate two sandwiches. Korean male level 2 writing class. An iWeb search for: really|so|quite _JJ 1 REALLY GOOD 291861 2 SO GOOD 182087 3 SO EASY 127227 4 SO IMPORTANT 102790 5 SO …

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MAIN | ONLY + noun

A2, ADJECTIVES, limit, position / difference, entrance, goal, hope, JJ, line, main, menu, NN, only, point, reason, reasons, stage, TLC, types, way, wish

Point 24 in ADJECTIVES/position: a limited range of adjectives (‘main’, ‘only’) that limit the noun that they go before. An iWeb search for: main|only _NN 1 ONLY THING 275654 2 ONLY WAY 275017 3 ONLY NEED 78976 4 ONLY TIME 72450 5 MAIN STREET 71594 6 ONLY REASON 70637 TLC STUDENT SPEAKING TEST: It was my favourite cake and that’s the only reason I used to go to school every day. …

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adjective BUT adjective

A2, ADJECTIVES, combining / available, brilliant, but, comfortable, fair, free, growing, JJ, opposite, polite, simple, soft, TLC, true

Point 21 in the category of ADJECTIVES/combining: join a limited range of common adjectives, after ‘be’. TLC STUDENT SPEAKING TEST: Driving in the city is cool but difficult. male China B2 A search in iWeb for: _VB _JJ but _JJ 1 IS SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE 216 2 ‘S SAD BUT TRUE 181 3 IS SAD BUT TRUE 126 4 ARE SIMPLE BUT …

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doubling final consonant + -EST

A2, ADJECTIVES, superlative / biggest, dimmest, fattest, fittest, flattest, funnest, grimmest, hippest, hottest, JJT, maddest, raddest, saddest, slimmest, wettest

Point 13 in the category of ADJECTIVES/superlatives: one syllable with a short vowel, by doubling the final consonant and adding ‘est’ PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE: Consequently, Darwin’s theory on survival of the fittest no longer applies to humans. Survival of the fittest mainly relies on nature or predators to eliminate the young, old, weak or unfit, yet humans today no longer fear animal attacks or blizzards. Chinese level 5 writing class. A search in iWeb for: _JJT 4 BIGGEST 1122195 25 HOTTEST 102428 83 FITTEST 10804 90 SADDEST 9545 113 WETTEST 6532 …

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superlative + noun+ IN

A2, ADJECTIVES, phrases, PREPOSITIONS, singular, superlative / baseball, building, coach, college, companies, fashion, highest, II, in, JJT, largest, latest, mind, mountain, NN, north, office, program, record, richest, seat, seats, south, story, team, teams, views, worst

Point 11 in the category of ADJECTIVES: prepositional phrases with ‘in’ + singular name of a place after a superlative adjective. PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE: I am not shy with girls, I always tell my brother don’t be shy with them, they are the best creatures in the world. Arabic male level 2 writing class. A search in iWeb for: _JJT _NN in _N 1 BEST THINGS IN LIFE 1698 2 BEST …

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If possible

ADJECTIVES, B1, CLAUSES, conditional, MODALITY, polite / if, JJ, possible, should, try, use, VB, would

Point 77 in MODALITY/adjectives is defined: ‘if-‘ clauses + ‘possible’, as a politeness strategy. The examples in the EVP show that this might even be A1: A1 Is it possible to speak to the manager, please? Please send it today, if possible. Is it possible to buy tickets in advance? Cambridge Learner Corpus Learner example: …

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determiner + superlative + noun (range)

ADJECTIVES, B1, DETERMINERS, NOUNS, phrases, range, superlative / advice, album, APPGE, bet, challenge, chance, choice, complaint, concern, convenience, customers, deepest, dreams, earliest, effort, efforts, eldest, enemy, fear, fondest, form, fullest, guess, highest, interest, interests, issue, JJT, judgment, latest, level, lowest, memories, nearest, NN, option, options, performance, point, potential, priority, project, purest, season, self, sellers, selling, shot, simplest, source, store, widest, wildest, wishes, worst

B1 Point 48 in the category of ADJECTIVES is defined: noun phrases with a range of determiners before a superlative adjective. *This should include a range of nouns because at A2 it is a limited range. One can guess that ‘my’ ‘your’ can still be B1 if the noun is not A1. We have removed …

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superlative + present pefect simple

ADJECTIVES, PAST, perfect, PRESENT, superlative, unique / anyone, become, court, discovered, emerged, encountered, experienced, fears, happened, highest, ideas, JJT, largest, lasted, latest, lowest, nightmare, performances, practices, research, results, revealed, ruled, strongest, successes, tasted, tested, tried, upheld, VH, VVN, worst

B1 Point 41 in the category of PAST is defined as: present perfect simple WITH SUPERLATIVE to talk about a unique experience. This point will clash with superlatives followed by clauses at B2. And it overlaps Point 33 B1 clauses with a present perfect or past perfect as a superlative noun phrase complement, to talk …

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comparative adjective + IER

A2, ADJECTIVES, comparatives, syllables / angrier, bossier, bulkier, busier, chillier, cloudier, crazier, deadlier, dirtier, drier, earlier, friendlier, handier, healthier, heavier, holier, JJR, juicier, lazier, livelier, lovelier, luckier, messier, mightier, nastier, noisier, prettier, riskier, rosier, saltier, scarier, sexier, shinier, sillier, spicier, sportier, steadier, stickier, sunnier, tastier, tidier, tinier, trickier, uglier, wealthier, windier

Point 29 in the category of ADJECTIVES is defined as: form comparative adjectives with adjectives of two syllables ending in ‘-y’ by changing the ‘y’ to an ‘I’ and adding ‘-er’ EXPERT EXAMPLE: The column included examples of correct grammar that make speeches and writing easier to understand, whereas mistakes make English weaker and uncomfortable. noozhawk.com An iWeb search for: *ier_JJR 1 EASIER 1010581 2 EARLIER 431393 3 HEALTHIER 186940 4 HEAVIER …

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adverb + adjective + noun

ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS, B1, complex, NOUNS, phrases / accepted, almost, amount, amounts, approach, available, basis, beneficial, binding, boiled, cash, chance, check, choice, closely, colleges, competitive, completely, continuously, contract, cost, daily, deal, difference, differences, disease, diseases, domain, double, drained, efforts, entirely, even, extra, extremely, field, fully, generally, ground, guy, high, higher, highly, historically, idea, increasingly, infection, infections, information, institution, JJ, just, larger, legally, level, lightly, low, lower, market, NN, option, pepper, period, personally, plain, position, price, publicly, qualified, quality, range, rapidly, rate, reasonable, related, relationship, relatively, results, risk, role, RR, scale, significant, size, slightly, soil, spaces, still, story, stuff, surface, surgery, team, transmission, transmitted, variable, way, wide, wider

Point 32 in the category of NOUNs is defined as: complex noun phrases with adverb + adjective + noun EXPERT EXAMPLE: And, you know, this is a fairly transparent example. wnpr.org *This overlaps B1 noun phrases in the category of ADJECTIVES and clashes with C1 in the category of modality (emphasis). A search in iWeb for: _RR _JJ _NN 1 PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE …

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determiner + adjective + ONES

ADJECTIVES, B1, DETERMINERS, modify, PRONOUNS, substitution / a, common, correct, current, D, earlier, existing, few, JJ, larger, lucky, main, major, obvious, ones, original, particular, PELIC, previous, real, several, whose

Point 40 in the category of PRONOUNS/substitution is defined as: determiners + premodifers + ‘ones’ PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE: (referring to outdoor activities) I think Bodrum has the best ones. Turkish, Male, Level 3, Writing Class. A search in iWeb for: _A _J ones 1 THE ONLY ONES 45418 2 YOUR LOVED ONES 30909 3 THEIR LOVED ONES 22398 4 THE …

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adjective + ONES

ADJECTIVES, B1, general, modify, PRONOUNS, substitution / basic, certain, common, correct, dead, earlier, existing, free, fresh, future, healthy, JJ, large, larger, local, lower, lucky, main, modern, natural, negative, NN2, normal, obvious, ones, original, PELIC, popular, positive, previous, real, recent, regular, remaining, similar, simple, smart, SPECIAL, successful, tiny, top, traditional, wild

Point 50 in the category of PRONOUNS/substitution is defined as: premodifiers with ‘ones’, to refer to something in general. An iWeb search for: _JJ ones 1 LOVED ONES 102997 2 NEW ONES 78751 3 LITTLE ONES 58655 4 ONLY ONES 46742 5 GOOD ONES 26844 6 OLD ONES 24098 7 OTHER ONES 16209 8 SMALLER …

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MY | YOUR + superlative +noun

A2, ADJECTIVES, NOUNS, phrases, PRONOUNS, range / advice, customers, deepest, dreams, earliest, fans, guess, highest, ideas, JJT, latest, memories, mistake, my, NN, PELIC, project, wildest, wishes, worst, your

Point 12 in ADJECTIVES is defined as: form a noun phrase with ‘my’ or ‘your’ + superlative adjective + noun, with a limited range of nouns and contexts. A search in iWeb for: my|your _JJT _NN 1 YOUR BEST BET 34849 2 MY BEST FRIEND 30957 3 YOUR BEST FRIEND 18855 4 MY BEST FRIENDS …

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superlative phrase

A2, ADJECTIVES, NOUNS, phrases, superlative / advanced, amazing, form, forms, information, JJ, level, means, mistake, mistakes, most, NN, PELIC, piece, pieces, point, popular, reason, reasons, side, the, tourist, type, types, way, ways, wonderful

Point 15 in the category of ADJECTIVES is defined as: superlative adjective phrases using ‘the most’, with longer adjectives of two or more syllables. An iWeb search for: the most _JJ _NN 1 THE MOST IMPORTANT THING 69789 2 THE MOST IMPORTANT PART 22968 3 THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS 20263 After that, the most important things are healthy foods. PELIC STUDENT: …

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as * as + mine | yours

ADJECTIVES, ADVERBS, B1, CLAUSES, comparatives, possessive, PRONOUNS, singular / activity, almost, as, high, JJ, just, large, least, mine, nearly, pretty, probably, quickly, quite, rise, RR, sound, turn out, twice, valuable, XX, yours

Point 63 in the category of PRONOUNS is defined as: possessive pronouns ‘mine’ and ‘yours’, with singular reference, in comparative clauses after ‘(not) as … as’. A search in iWeb for: * as * as mine|yours 1 IS AS GOOD AS MINE 1166 2 , AS WELL AS YOURS 92 3 IS AS GOOD AS …

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