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 […]
Category: negatives
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.