The phrase “at a time” means during any one period or in each instance. Here are some examples and explanations: I can only do one thing at a time. This means I cannot multitask or focus on more than one task in each moment. She reads two books at a time. This means she reads two books […]
(number) noun + AT A TIME Read More »
Here are the iWeb search results for an attempt to get double hyphenated nouns: *-*_N *Note that many of these results may be adjectives. Most of these will be at the very least B2. 1 ONE-OF-A-KIND 40130 2 STEP-BY-STEP 23794 3 MOTHER-IN-LAW 22141 Your mother-in-law invited me. listen 4 BROTHER-IN-LAW 21775 5 SON-IN-LAW 20170 6 SISTER-IN-LAW 17571 7
double hyphen words Read More »
Here are the results from the iWeb corpus for: _A _NN of 1 A LOT OF 3787315 A2 2 THE END OF 1984621 Everybody chokes sometimes. It‘s not the end of the world. listen 3 A NUMBER OF 1464260 I had a very good one for a number of years, thank you. listen 4 THE NUMBER OF 1194874 5 THE REST OF 1102466 6 A COUPLE OF 1090076
article + noun + OF Read More »
English grammar tells us that: I haven’t got a clue. I don’t have a clue. are the correct ways to express negative possession. However, there is the rarer, older British sounding: I haven’t a clue. Notice that a superlative phrase is common to give emphasis: I haven’t the slightest idea how he works. listen Here are the search results from
HAVE NOT + noun phrase Read More »
We raised her to speak her mind. listen The phrase “speak her mind” means to express her thoughts and feelings honestly and openly, even if they are not popular or may upset others. It is a phrase that is often used to describe people who are not afraid to speak their truth, even if it means going against the
lexical verb + possessive determiner + noun Read More »
Here are the search results in the iWeb corpus for: _NN _I mind 1 PEACE OF MIND 92742 C2 “Peace of mind” is a noun phrase that means a feeling of being safe or protected, or a mental state of calmness or tranquility. For example: And it‘s peace of mind for me, you know? listen 2 STATE OF MIND 30565 It is my opinion that Senior Chief Kelly is
noun + preposition + MIND Read More »
The mouth of something can mean the place where a river flows into the sea or a larger body of water. For example: We‘ve got to get our hero, Captain Willard, to the mouth of the Nung River so he can go pursue Colonel Kurtz. TED It was here that Homer described the Greek encampment at the mouth of the Scamander River. TED Located at the mouth of the Bay of Bengal, this coastal village was built on top of the Meghna River delta. TED It
My parents are moving house and didn’t tell me. listen Here are the search results from iWeb corpus for: _VV _NN 1 TAKE ADVANTAGE 333879 2 TAKE PLACE 325996 3 TAKE CARE 306138 4 TOOK PLACE 216397 5 MAKES SENSE 214827 6 TAKES PLACE 199817 7 MAKE SENSE 197141 8 TAKING PLACE 140481 9 TAKE PART 130666 10 PAY ATTENTION 127171 11
lexical verb + noun Read More »
BE + adjective + NEWS FOR expresses an opinion or a reaction to some information. For example, you might say, “It’s good news for the environment that the government banned plastic bags.” The adjective describes how the speaker feels about the news, and the preposition FOR introduces who or what the news affects. For example,
BE + adjective + NEWS FOR Read More »
“SOME TIME NOW” indicates that a significant amount of time has passed or is expected to pass. It suggests that a considerable duration has elapsed, but it doesn’t specify an exact or precise timeframe. The phrase implies that a significant period has gone by, often used to emphasize the duration of a wait, a process,
determiner + time noun + time adverb Read More »
A preposition is a word that shows the relationship between a noun or pronoun and another word in the sentence. A preposition + noun combination is called a prepositional phrase, which can act as an adjective or an adverb.
preposition + noun Read More »
Here is an example of B2 focus with a singular noun phrase at the front of a sentence: The problem is that she wants a bottle of red wine. listen It is easy to find information about singular noun phrases + that clauses on the internet: We use a noun + that-clause to express opinions and feelings, often about certainty and possibility. We
plural noun phrase + ARE + THAT clause Read More »
In the English Vocabulary Profile at B1, listed as pronouns: WHAT = THE THING = used to refer to something without naming it WHATEVER = anything or everything However, one of their examples is a cleft for focus: What I like most about her is her honesty. is C1 when it is a noun CLAUSE subject. Similarly, we cover ‘whatever’ in more detail
WHAT | WHATEVER noun clause Read More »
A search in the NOW corpus for: of _D _NN 1 OF THIS YEAR 347705 A1? Until March of this year, I remained convinced that the denials were true and that the charges of involvement by members of the White House staff were false. listen 2 OF THIS ARTICLE 159611 3 OF ALL TIME 157121 superlative + of all time Enzo Ferrari will go down in history as the greatest car manufacturer of all time. listen 4 OF THESE COOKIES 154496 You have got to try one of these cookies. listen
OF + determiner + noun Read More »
In this post, we explore long complex noun phrases in the object position after the verb ‘have‘. Here is a search in the iWeb corpus for: _VH _A _JJ _NN of 1 HAS A LONG HISTORY OF 12459 C1+ Huff Hoyle has a long history of bad business practices. listen 2 HAVE A WIDE RANGE OF 9459 B1 You have a wide range
HAVE + article + adjective + noun + OF Read More »
1 A MEMBER OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY
2 A HELL OF A LONG TIME
3 THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
article + noun + OF + article + adjective + noun Read More »
In this post, we search for the most common adjectives found before the noun ‘order‘. For example: Now, that might sound pretty good, but ask yourself what would happen under our current economic and political order? TED A search in the NOW corpus for _J order_N 1 PUBLIC ORDER 37962 2 RESTRAINING ORDER 35066 3 STAY-AT-HOME ORDER 21381 4 NEW ORDER 20398 5 MIDDLE ORDER 16531 6 INTERIM
self-driving self-employed self-esteem self-determination
SELF-word (hyphenated prefix) Read More »
