While searching for structures in the English Vocabulary Profile, we sometimes find structures we are not sure why they are listed at a certain complexity. For example: walk NOUN A2 a journey that you make by walking, often for enjoyment a short/ten-minute, etc. walk = B2 a journey that takes a short time/ten minutes, etc. […]
hyphenated time words Read More »
Why say “is of interest” instead of “is interesting“? ‘is of + noun‘ is more formal and in academic writing, we use the noun form of a word more often. More importantly, ‘of+noun’ functions as a noun in this position. Therefore, it can often collocate correctly with modifiers. For example: “greatest interest” is much more
BE + of NOUN PHRASE Read More »
A search in NOW corpus for: _VV _N to the _N 1 GAIN ACCESS TO THE SUBSCRIBER 3211 2 THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND 1721 A search for collocates: 1 DECIDED 95 I decided to throw caution to the wind and try it. foxnews.com 2 WILLING 21 He‘s been pretty extreme throughout his career and been willing to throw caution to the wind. ewrestlingnews.com 3 DECIDE 21 4 MEAN 19 5 DECIDES 15 6 THEREFORE 13
verb + noun + TO THE + noun Read More »
A search in the NOW corpus for: _V to the _N 1 GO TO THE HOME 158924 2 CONSENT TO THE COLLECTION 127114 3 WELCOME TO THE DISCUSSION 120567 4 CONSENT TO THE USE 115313 5 STICK TO THE TOPIC 90554 6 RELATING TO THE ACCESSIBILITY 54792 7 DIRECTED TO THE FCC 54790 8 DEDICATED
verb + TO THE + noun Read More »
In the English Vocabulary Profile: conventional wisdom = C1 what most people believe Collocates in NOW corpus: 1 SAYS 948 2 SUGGESTS 509 3 HOLDS 419 When it comes to moral and political disagreements, conventional wisdom holds that people are more powerfully influenced by facts and statistics as opposed to personal anecdotes and experiences. wbur.org 4 CONTRARY 402 5 CHALLENGE 352 6 HELD 257 7 SUGGEST 238 8 WRONG 207 9 GOES 201 10 CHALLENGING 177
conventional wisdom Read More »
A search in NOW corpus for: with _JJ _NN 1 WITH INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTORS 53037 2 WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT 45008 3 WITH OTHER COMMENTS 37269 4 WITH MENTAL HEALTH 28159 5 WITH TAILORED CONTENT 27842 6 WITH OTHER PEOPLE 26595 7 WITH PRIME MINISTER 22167 8 WITH SPECIAL NEEDS 20738 9 WITH OTHER COUNTRIES 19341 10
WITH + adjective + noun Read More »
A search in NOW corpus for: _I _AP _JJ _NN2 1 TO OUR DIGITAL EDITIONS 31898 2 ON YOUR MOBILE PHONES 31713 3 TO OUR FINANCIAL SERVICES 15863 4 OF THEIR RESPECTIVE AUTHORS 12218 5 BY THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS 10188 6 OF THEIR LOVED ONES 9585 7 OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS 7876 8 TO OUR
preposition + possessive adjective + adjective + plural noun Read More »
In the English Vocabulary Profile at B1: not believe/understand/hear/say, etc. a word = anything A search in iWeb corpus for: _XX _VV a word 1 N’T SAY A WORD 1726 Don’t say a word against my father. listen 2 NOT SAY A WORD 756 3 N’T UNDERSTAND A WORD 608 It was brilliant, even though I didn’t understand a word of it. listen 4 N’T BELIEVE A
In this post, we give examples of 7 different ways the noun ‘world‘ is used in English. In the English Vocabulary Profile at A2: your world = your life and experiences A search in NOW corpus for: _APPGE world 1 OUR WORLD 67437 This may be literally our planet. 2 THEIR WORLD 33865 Note that ‘their’
In the English Vocabulary Profile, at B2, or at B2+ in the GSE, ‘extent’ is listed in phrases with ‘to’. It refers to: the size or importance of something | how big, important, or serious something is mainly in some ways A search in NOW corpus for: to_II * * extent 1 TO A LARGE EXTENT
All the English Vocabulary Profile, all the vocabulary is listed at B2 or lower. A search in COCA: 1 APPROPRIATE WAY 544 2 APPROPRIATE RESPONSE 541 I found the appropriate response to these situations a long time ago. listen 3 APPROPRIATE ACTION 450 4 APPROPRIATE LEVEL 345 5 APPROPRIATE TREATMENT 268 6 APPROPRIATE WAYS 175 7 APPROPRIATE RESPONSES 122 8 APPROPRIATE LEVELS 121 9 APPROPRIATE
APPROPRIATE + noun Read More »
A search in iWeb for: annual conference|meeting|rate|report|review 1 ANNUAL REPORT 47760 Sustainability goals have been written into annual reports all over the world. 2 ANNUAL MEETING 45673 I hadn’t seen Melquiades for about 10 years and when we had our annual meetings in Lima, Peru a couple of years ago, the filmmakers found him. 3 ANNUAL CONFERENCE 24962 4 ANNUAL RATE 11484 5 ANNUAL REVIEW 6732
‘analytical’ is C1 in the English Vocabulary Profile. A COCA collocate search for: analytical approach|tool|approaches|tools 1 TOOLS 182 (B2) 2 APPROACH 96 (B2) 3 TOOL 67 (B2) 4 APPROACHES 52 5 DATA 17 Data and analytical tools are important. However, they aren’t enough on their own. context 6 USEFUL 15 This would not be a very useful analytical approach. context 7 USING 15 8 USED 15 9 POWERFUL 10 10 DEVELOPED 9 11
ANALYTICAL + approach | tools Read More »
There are over 10 entries in the ACL for the B2 (proof) or C2 (law) noun ‘evidence’. Here we look for those adjectives that only come before ‘evidence’ in the list. A search in COCA for the frequency of these collocations: 1 ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE 1110 (unlisted in the English Vocabulary Profile.) I wanted to put some science to this anecdotal evidence. 2
ample | anecdotal | convincing | documentary | supporting + EVIDENCE Read More »
If we check ‘text inspector’ without part of speech: when we check for nouns: A search in iWeb for: alternative approach|explanation|form|interpretation|means|method|model|solution|source|strategy|view|way 1 ALTERNATIVE WAY 6465 2 ALTERNATIVE METHOD 6153 I believe we might be at a point where we might want to try some alternative methods. listen 3 ALTERNATIVE APPROACH 4546 Isn’t there an alternative approach? listen 4 ALTERNATIVE MEANS 3901 5 ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION 3228 6 ALTERNATIVE SOURCE 1925
academic collocations of ‘alternative’ Read More »
Looking for academic collocation in TED corpus for: allow* * access* Together, psychedelics and music may be able to open our minds to change and direct that change, reconnect us with our most authentic selves and allow us access to the things that really allow us to make meaning in this world, and reconnect with our most authentic selves. listen ‘allow’ and ‘access’ are B1 in the English Vocabulary Profile.
Here’s the most common vocabulary in the grammar collocation of ‘noun + to-infinitive’: An iWeb search for _NN _TO _VVI 1 WAY TO GET 225421 2 WAY TO GO 139189 3 TIME TO GET 116358 4 WAY TO MAKE 110685 5 YEARS TO COME 102714 This ‘future’ time expression is unlisted in the English Vocabulary
noun TO-infinitive ‘way to get’ Read More »
In the English Vocabulary Profile, the adjective ‘eager’ and the uncountable noun ‘eagerness’ are listed at B2 with the meanings: wanting to do or have something very much when you are eager to do something They are often followed by TO-infinitive. For example, And his eagerness to leave his mother‘s womb was the very reason he was the one who was selected. listen Do not be too eager to deal out death and judgment. listen A search for eagerness
eager | eagerness + infinitive Read More »
In the English Vocabulary Profile, the noun ‘determination’ is listed at B2 with the meaning: when someone continues trying to do something, although it is very difficult For example: Fretting arises from our determination to have our own way. listen ‘determination’ is often followed by an infinitive. A search in iWeb corpus for: determination TO _VVI 1 DETERMINATION TO MAKE 1407 2 DETERMINATION TO
The noun ‘ambition’ is often followed by an infinitive. Here’s an EXPERT example: I see the people that do the real work and what’s really said, in a way, is that the people that are the most giving, hardworking and capable of making this world better, usually don’t have the ego and ambition to be a leader. listen Student example from PELIC: I believe that you need to associate with positive people who have an ambition to live a happy life. Korean male level 4 writing class Often, the C1 verb ‘fulfil’ takes ‘ambition’ as an object. PELIC student example: Furthermore, children need an educational environment that is prepared and ready to fulfill their ambitions. Arabic male level 4
fulfil ambition TO infinitive Read More »
