informal

  • Informal language is usually used in less serious situations.
  • Informal language tends to be used more with people we know well.  We are more relaxed with friends or family for example.
  • When we speak, informal language is more common unless it is in a speech or lecture for example.

or other

If specific details about something are not important or have been forgotten, we can use phrases with ‘or other‘. For example: When you didn’t return and time was getting on,  I imagined you‘d be sticking your nose in somewhere or other  that you shouldn’t be. listen A search in the NOW corpus for: * * or other . 1 SOME FORM OR OTHER. 197 2 SOME WAY OR OTHER. 139 So the way of treating these diseases in early times was to,  in some way or …

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interjections & other sentence words

We generally understand that interjections express sudden feelings and emotions such as pleasure, anger, disappointment, shock, surprise, and excitement. Formally, these words often proceed with punctuation marks, which are most often but not always exclamation points, and they are often ‘thrown’ in between sentences.  However, exact definitions are not so precise once we look at …

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Don’t get me wrong

In the English Vocabulary Profile, Don’t get me wrong INFORMAL C2 used when you do not want someone to think that you do not like someone or something For example: Now, don’t get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful to be alive,  and I am painfully aware that this struggle is a privilege that many don’t get to experience. fsc.org.au   Collocates of ‘Don’t get me wrong‘ in the MOVIE corpus: 1 N’T 917 2 LOVE 72 Don’t get me wrong, I love it. listen …

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reporting verbs

In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 18 in the category of VERBS/patterns is defined as: reporting verbs, especially mental process verbs, with a clause as the direct object, without ‘that’, especially in informal contexts. For example: I hope you are doing well.   *notably, in the English Grammar Profile examples, all the verbs but ‘said’ are in the present …

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a little | bits of | a bit of | a bit of a | a little bit of

‘BIT’ related to quantity is countable = a bit of … bits of … For example: By inserting those genes into yeast, we could produce little bits of that smell and be able to, maybe, smell a little bit of something that‘s lost forever. TED A2 in the English Vocabulary Profile: bit = a small amount or piece of something B1 in the Oxford Learner Dictionary: [countable] bit of something (especially British English) a small …

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right?

Point 16 in the category of QUESTIONS is defined as: ‘RIGHT’ AS AN INFORMAL TAG in informal contexts. A search in iWeb for: * * , right ? 1 I KNOW , RIGHT ? 1260 2 MAKES SENSE , RIGHT ? 866 3 PRETTY COOL , RIGHT ? 735   National Law Review New Jersey …

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‘GET’ + OBJECT + PAST PARTICPLE

C1 English Grammar Profile point 35 in PASSIVES is defined as: ‘get’ + object + ‘-ed’ to talk about causing or instructing something to happen or to be done by somebody else, often informally For example: Now, as it happens, I do have some connections in the drilling business who might help get us started. listen A search in iWeb for: GET _N _VVN *not all the following match our grammar …

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LINKING ADVERBS / SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS

In the English Grammar Profile, A2 point 19 in the category of ADVERBS is defined as: LINKING limited range of adverbs (‘also’, ‘so’, ‘however’) to show a relationship between two clauses or sentences. The EGP examples: I_PPIS1 also_RR bought_VVD ,_, so_CS I_PPIS1 decided_VVD However_RR ,_, the_AT clothes_NN2 were_VBDR cheap_JJ ._. A2 DISCOURSE MARKERS: ‘so‘ to …

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