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.
In the English Vocabulary Profile, at B2, or at B2+ in the GSE, ‘extent’ is listed in phrases with ‘to’. It refers to: the size or importance of something | how big, important, or serious something is mainly in some ways A search in NOW corpus for: to_II * * extent 1 TO A LARGE EXTENT […]
This post relates to a B2 range of gerunds. A search in iWeb for imagin* _VVG 1 IMAGINE GOING 3285 2 IMAGINE TRYING 3183 3 IMAGINE LIVING 2565 4 IMAGINE GETTING 2190 5 IMAGINE USING 1728 6 IMAGINE TAKING 1476 7 IMAGINE WALKING 1368 8 IMAGINE WORKING 1117 9 IMAGINE SEEING 1033 10 IMAGINE SITTING
All the English Vocabulary Profile, all the vocabulary is listed at B2 or lower. A search in COCA: 1 APPROPRIATE WAY 544 2 APPROPRIATE RESPONSE 541 I found the appropriate response to these situations a long time ago. listen 3 APPROPRIATE ACTION 450 4 APPROPRIATE LEVEL 345 5 APPROPRIATE TREATMENT 268 6 APPROPRIATE WAYS 175 7 APPROPRIATE RESPONSES 122 8 APPROPRIATE LEVELS 121 9 APPROPRIATE
APPROPRIATE + noun Read More »
In the English Vocabulary Profile, all the vocabulary in this set of collocations is at B1 except for ‘equally’ at B2. I apply this lesson equally well to my personal life. About 75 percent of people who applied to jobs using various methods in the past year said they never heard anything back from the employer. We have applied this theory to many systems.
APPLY + equally | method | theory Read More »
A search in iWeb for: annual conference|meeting|rate|report|review 1 ANNUAL REPORT 47760 Sustainability goals have been written into annual reports all over the world. 2 ANNUAL MEETING 45673 I hadn’t seen Melquiades for about 10 years and when we had our annual meetings in Lima, Peru a couple of years ago, the filmmakers found him. 3 ANNUAL CONFERENCE 24962 4 ANNUAL RATE 11484 5 ANNUAL REVIEW 6732
If we check ‘text inspector’ without part of speech: when we check for nouns: A search in iWeb for: alternative approach|explanation|form|interpretation|means|method|model|solution|source|strategy|view|way 1 ALTERNATIVE WAY 6465 2 ALTERNATIVE METHOD 6153 I believe we might be at a point where we might want to try some alternative methods. listen 3 ALTERNATIVE APPROACH 4546 Isn’t there an alternative approach? listen 4 ALTERNATIVE MEANS 3901 5 ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION 3228 6 ALTERNATIVE SOURCE 1925
academic collocations of ‘alternative’ Read More »
In the English Vocabulary Profile, the adjective ‘eager’ and the uncountable noun ‘eagerness’ are listed at B2 with the meanings: wanting to do or have something very much when you are eager to do something They are often followed by TO-infinitive. For example, And his eagerness to leave his mother‘s womb was the very reason he was the one who was selected. listen Do not be too eager to deal out death and judgment. listen A search for eagerness
eager | eagerness + infinitive Read More »
In the English Vocabulary Profile, the noun ‘determination’ is listed at B2 with the meaning: when someone continues trying to do something, although it is very difficult For example: Fretting arises from our determination to have our own way. listen ‘determination’ is often followed by an infinitive. A search in iWeb corpus for: determination TO _VVI 1 DETERMINATION TO MAKE 1407 2 DETERMINATION TO
The noun ‘ambition’ is often followed by an infinitive. Here’s an EXPERT example: I see the people that do the real work and what’s really said, in a way, is that the people that are the most giving, hardworking and capable of making this world better, usually don’t have the ego and ambition to be a leader. listen Student example from PELIC: I believe that you need to associate with positive people who have an ambition to live a happy life. Korean male level 4 writing class Often, the C1 verb ‘fulfil’ takes ‘ambition’ as an object. PELIC student example: Furthermore, children need an educational environment that is prepared and ready to fulfill their ambitions. Arabic male level 4
fulfil ambition TO infinitive Read More »
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 »
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
BE SURE THAT YOU ARE
BE AWARE THAT IF YOU
BE + adjective + THAT clause Read More »
In this post, we explore the passive + prepositional phrase with gerund complement: ‘Be banned from doing‘ For example: I was banned from seeing her. listen You‘re banned from busking. listen In the English Vocabulary Profile, ‘ban’ is listed at B2: VERB [T usually passive] (-nn-) to forbid something, especially officially NOUN [C] an official order that prevents something from happening An iWeb
BE + banned from + VERB-ing Read More »
from time to time |
for the most part |
on the part of
4 part complex phrases Read More »
The irregular superlative adverb or adjective of ‘far‘ is ‘farthest‘ or ‘furthest.’ For example: If I take one more step, it’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been. From the furthest corners of the world where the dark arts still hold sway, he returns to us to demonstrate how nature‘s laws may be bent. listen In the English Vocabulary Profile, at A2, ‘far‘ as an adverb means: at, to or from a great distance in space or time It is also listed at B2 as an adjective
In the English Vocabulary Profile at B2, ‘bear’ is defined: accept someone or something unpleasant For example: I can’t bear to see him like this. listen *There are other uses of ‘bear’ that are more advanced. However, the sense defined above has a distinct grammar pattern: (CAN | COULD) (often negative) + bear + (to-infinitive | Verb-ing | noun phrase) Verb-ing
can’t bear + to-infinitive Read More »
