75 MODALITY can B1 negative question forms in main clauses and question tags. Sadly, it is hard to look for variable length queries on iWeb corpus. Here we used can_v _xx * * ? 1 CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT ? 110 1 CAN NOT DO ? 192 2 CAN NOT SEE ? 153
Category: B1
slightly | a bit | much (comparative)
This post will attempt to untangle another set of grammar features that are clashing across levels. The centre of the confusion starts with: C1 Point 63 in the category of ADVERB phrases which is defined as: degree adverbs (‘slightly‘, ‘a bit‘, ‘much‘) to modify comparatives. But it clashes completely with B2 Point 57 in the category […]
Don’t Haven’t ?
Point 17 in the category of QUESTIONS is defined as: auxiliary ‘do’ and ‘have’ + ‘n’t’ + subject + main verb to form negative ‘yes/no’ questions. This overlaps with point 18 in PAST: present perfect simple – negative question form. This is hard to catch for variable-length searches, but we can get some short checking […]
would have Past Participle
Point 107 in MODALITY is defined as: PAST AFFIRMATIVE ‘would have’ + ‘-ed’. A search on iWeb for would have _vvn 1 WOULD HAVE MADE 32292 2 WOULD HAVE THOUGHT 31800 3 WOULD HAVE LIKED 26488 4 WOULD HAVE TAKEN 19768 5 WOULD HAVE GONE 14581 6 WOULD HAVE LOVED 13844 7 WOULD HAVE GIVEN 13574 […]
WOULD advise imagine recommend say
Point 102 in MODALITY and INDIRECTNESS is defined as: ‘would’ with verbs such as ‘advise’, ‘imagine’, ‘recommend’, ‘say’ to be less direct. *We are not sure if ‘indirectness’ is absolutely crucial to defining the complexity level of our following examples. Frequency in the iWeb corpus of these can be divided: Here are some of the […]
BE adjective TO infinitive
The B2 Point 156 in MODALITY and adjectives is yet another overlapping entry for features that are already covered elsewhere. It is generally defined as: SUBJECT + ‘BE’ + ADJECTIVE + ‘TO’ + INFINITIVE or pronoun or noun + ‘be’ + adjective + ‘to’ + (past) infinitive. However, this partially overlaps the B1 point 122 […]
Be able allowed to
Point 99 in Modality and expressions with be is defined as: a limited range of expressions with ‘be’ + infinitive (‘be allowed to’, ‘be supposed to’, ‘be able to’) with present and past forms of ‘be’ and with modal ‘will’ ‘Supposed’ overlaps in B2 also. There is also some overlap with 106 in Modality ‘Plan’. […]
You ought to
Point 91 in Modality is defined as: ‘ought to’ with ‘you’ to give advice. This depends on usage but at the same time we could add our own vocabulary range criteria to ensure it marks higher complexity. As you can see most of the 20 most frequent lexical verbs are A1. iWeb search for You […]
could possibility
Point 103 in modality is defined as: ‘could’ to talk about possibility. This requires manual interpretation and is therefore hard to differentiate it from uses which range from c2-a2. However, one particular formal point in both examples given on the EGP is ‘really.’ But believe me, it could be really fun… Could this really happen? […]
Present Continuous range
There are at least 30 points to do with the present continuous in the English Grammar Profile. Half of those are easily distinguished between formally, but many others are not. One aspect that they can be distinguished apart for level is on vocabulary range. The usage aspect is too difficult to search for as it […]