B2

B2 or upper-intermediate students are around an IELTS 6.  The language that they can produce nears the border of being able to start a university course in English.  Click here to see a full list of all our B2 grammar topics.

The + thing | fact | point | problem | reason + is (FOCUS)

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 5 in the category of FOCUS is defined as: ‘The thing, fact, point, problem, or reason + is (that)’ for focus. For example: The fact is I can’t take any more of your money unless I raise the rates on you. listen   However, we believe the structure should not be limited to just the article ‘the’.  For example: My point […]

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the reason that | the place which + CLAUSE

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 Point 4 in the category of FOCUS is defined as ‘The reason (that)’, ‘The place (which)’ + clause as subject + ‘be’ for focus. Expert examples: The reason you‘re alive today is because of those changes in our brains that took place in Africa. TED But the reason that a lot of his fans are in the stands is because of another video. listen Student in speaking

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introduce a comparison

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 10 in DISCOURSE MARKERS in writing is defined as: a range of phrases as discourse markers to introduce a comparison. There are three examples of these in the English Grammar Profile. 1. Similarly For Hitler to fail at Stalingrad would be an enormous blow to the Nazi myth. It would be an enormous blow to the war itself. Similarly, Josef Stalin was unrelenting. He would not tolerate defeat. WWII from Space   Collocates of ‘Similarly‘ (word ranking: 2809)

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CONSEQUENTLY | HENCE | THUS | THEREFORE (summarising)

In the English Vocabulary Profile, at C1, the adverb ‘hence’ means: for this reason We’ve been involved for quite a while.  Hence, the shared suite. listen At B2, the adverb ‘thus’ is used after saying a fact to introduce what then happened as a result. For example, If myth is seen as the product of a past era, it is difficult to determine at what actual moment that era ended. Thus, it is virtually impossible to state precisely when a certain mythical theme becomes a mere literary theme or to determine in general when myths are no longer being created. context   At B2, the adverb ‘consequently’ means: as

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their (GENERIC)

Here’s an expert example of using ‘their’ with a general reference: Tech Guide It‘s based on the idea that people learn best when they are actively involved in their education.   The use of ‘their’ is confusing to give level to, because there is differing information between the English Vocabulary and Grammar Profiles, and secondly the uses are hard to locate in corpora automatically. At B2,

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PLURAL NOUN possessive

Here are some examples of plural possessives with an apostrophe s’:

Children’s books: These books belong to the children.
Women’s rights: These rights belong to women.
Men’s clothing: This clothing belongs to men.
Teachers’ pets: These pets belong to the teachers.
Students’ essays: These essays belong to the students.
When a plural noun ends in s, we make the possessive form by adding an apostrophe only. For example:

The cats’ toys: These toys belong to the cats.
The dogs’ beds: These beds belong to the dogs.
The horses’ saddles: These saddles belong to the horses.

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THE + comparative phrases ‘The more you have, the better it is.’

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 56 in the category of DETERMINERS and articles is defined as “the” in comparative phrases ‘more’, ‘less’, ‘worse’, ‘better’ * the more’, ‘less’, ‘worse’ * to talk about one thing that is affected by another. comparative clauses For example: The broader the sentiment across business, the more influence and power there is to make change. timesnewsgroup.com.au   The more guns there are here, the more likely there is to

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OF + noun ‘S

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 55 in the category of DETERMINERS & possessives is defined as ‘s after a noun phrase with ‘of’ to indicate possession. There is no mention that there must be no following noun after ‘s However, there is a C2 point that covers an ellipted following noun.  For example:

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its

The possessive determiner “its” is used to indicate possession or ownership by a singular inanimate subject or object. It is the third-person singular neuter form of the possessive pronoun “it.” Typically, possessive determiners are used before nouns to show that the noun belongs to someone or something. For example: “The dog wagged its tail.” –

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Both and

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 17 in CONJUNCTIONS/coordinating is defined as: ‘BOTH AND’ to combine phrases and clauses, often for emphasis. For example: You come up with this framework to guide the way through both the story and the data. Listen   In the iWeb corpus we can run up to 4 wildcards with different combinations: ‘both * * and * *’   1 BOTH MEN AND WOMEN

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relative clause preposition (stranding)

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 102 in the category of CLAUSES that are relative is defined as: defining relative clauses and non-defining relative clauses ending in a preposition, with ‘who/which/that’ as the complement of the preposition. *This point overlaps other categories and is already covered here. Here are the 4 most common prepositions

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the same (NOUN) as + CLAUSE

In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 101 in CLAUSES & comparatives is defined as ‘THE SAME’ (+ NOUN) + ‘AS’ + CLAUSE In the following example ‘way’ can be removed: I want to be around as many people as possible who feel the same way as I do. listen But Alan says none of us are the same as we were a moment ago and we shouldn’t try to be. listen   Sadly there is no mention of whether this is only finite clauses because

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RATHER THAN + non-finite clause | phrase

Let’s look at how ‘rather than‘ is used to compare.  In the English Vocabulary Profile, at B1 the meaning is:  ‘instead of ‘ rather than examples: I‘d like coffee rather than tea. I usually wear a swimsuit rather than shorts. In the above examples: coffee, tea, a swimsuit, shorts are nouns or noun phrases, so ‘rather than‘ or ‘instead of‘ are complex prepositions. Here’s

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