In the English Grammar Profile, point 86 in the category of CLAUSES is defined as: phrases or exclamations where the negative interrogative form of an auxiliary verb is used to express surprise or enthusiasm. This is a real challenge to search for. Surprise and enthusiasm is not something you can formally search for, but the […]
Category: negatives
Adverbs 56 Negation 18
A rarer grammar structure to do with adverbs, negation and inversion.
didn’t dare
In the EGP, Point 223 in the category of modality is used to talk about not being brave enough to do something. It seems an unusual piece of grammar in that it is an infinitive next to another infinitive without “to”. It also is surrounded usually by verbs of speech. Collocates 5 to the left […]
need (modality)
If it hadn’t been for / had it not been for + modal
Point 91 in the PAST category of the English Grammar Profile, we can give reasons with this structure which collocates with: If it hadn’t been for + up to 9 spaces to the right in the COCA corpus (I changed to this corpus because iWeb and NOW corpora were not allowing or providing much information): […]
If only past perfect
How do you express regret?
“BE” NOT
One of the first grammar points you need to learn is the negative forms of BE.