Although ‘a little’ exists in the EGP, there is no entry for it to modify an adjective. We checked the EVP and found that it exists modifying an adjective at B2. Expanded in iWeb: a little _JJ 1 A LITTLE EXTRA 48606 2 A LITTLE DIFFERENT 45216 3 A LITTLE NERVOUS 10624 4 A LITTLE […]
Point 16 in the category of REPORTED SPEECH is defined as: events in the past with backshifts for tenses and words relating to time Automatic searches for this are impossible but we can look in corpora for combinations of told * previous|following * _nnt since these all exist in the EGP examples. previous|following * _nnt 1 […]
Point 15 in the category of REPORTED SPEECH / DIRECT SPEECH is defined as: the reporting verb in the mid position of the reported clause. This is a very hard structure to expand. A search in iWeb for , _p thought|said , ” gives us a start to work with. (the specific strings are apparently […]
Point 14 in REPORTED SPEECH is defined as: ‘ask’ or ‘tell’ + direct object + ‘not’ + ‘to-‘infinitive. An iWeb search for told|asked _p not to _v: *all the examples from PELIC students are embedded below: 1 TOLD ME NOT TO WORRY 940 2 TOLD HER NOT TO WORRY 282 2815,ci3,Taiwanese,Female,171,4,w,321,1,383 My mom gave […]
Point 13 in REPORTED SPEECH (DIRECT SPEECH) is defined as: Report speech directly inverting the subject and verb in the reporting clause where the subject is a proper noun or noun phrase. A search in iWeb for: ” thought|said|asked * * 1 ” SAID HE , 4159 2 ” SAID HEAD COACH 3022 3 ” […]
Point 12 in the category of REPORTED SPEECH for CITATION is defined as: PRESENT SIMPLE of the reporting verb to report information from a written source and a present tense verb in the reported clause. We can start our search with: _nn1 says|tells and then choose nouns related to citation: 1 REPORT SAYS 19880 […]
This post is another one where the English Grammar Profile has clashing proficiency levels associated with a point and in the examples. Here we are looking at the category of QUESTIONS. It is understandable that usage is what is different, but the examples could be better selected: B2 Point 29: ‘wh-‘words + the negative form […]
Point 28 in QUESTIONS is defined as: affirmative or negative tag after an imperative clause to soften the imperative. *Some examples don’t seem to soften but instead add a touch of sarcasm. iWeb doesn’t allow searching for such a complex string. We can start with getting , _vm _p ? 1 , SHALL WE? 8052 […]
Point 97 in PRONOUNS is defined as: possessive ‘THEIRS’ with singular and plural reference, in object positions, and complement positions after ‘be’ and after prepositions. An iWeb search for * * * * theirs . : 1 YOUR PROBLEM , NOT THEIRS . 31 2 . THE CHOICE IS THEIRS . 27 3 BE THE […]
Point 96 in PRONOUNS is defined as: possessive pronoun ‘hers’, with singular reference, in object positions, and complement positions after ‘be’ and after prepositions. In iWeb: * * _vb hers 1 THE CHOICE IS HERS 28 BabyGaga What To Do If Someone Announced Your Pregnancy Before You Were Ready The choice is hers to […]