Although gerunds are covered in a few different ways across a few CEFR levels in the English Grammar Profile, there is no entry given to the use of a gerund after ‘need’ as MODALITY which is listed by PEARSON: GSE 63 B2 ‘need’ with verbs in the gerund to express necessity. ‘need’ + Verb Phrase …
Here’s an example of past modality:
You HAD TO HAVE KNOWN about the problem before you started driving.
Before the car broke down on the highway, I am sure you noticed something was wrong with the car.
Student examples: So I must study English very hard. PELIC Korean male level 2 writing class. You must do the homework each day without delay. Arabic, female, level 4 writing class I think that teenagers must study. TLC speaking test, female Spain B1 B1 point 88 in the category of MODALITY: ‘must’ (with a wide range of pronouns and nouns) to talk about obligation and necessity A2 …
C1 English Grammar Profile point 62 in the category of FUTURE is defined as: present simple after speech act verbs expressing suggestions and obligation. For example: l cannot recommend that you go heliskiing. listen But remember where we left off because I insist you finish later. listen This is not easily located formally in corpora but we can start with a search in iWeb for the speech act verbs …
Here’s an example of an infinitive passive structure. He said it was the summation of the parts working together in such a way that nothing needed to be added, taken away, or altered. listen The English Grammar Profile B1 point 4 in the category of passives is defined as: an infinitive after a limited number of forms including ‘going to’, ‘have to’, ‘need to’, ‘want to’. *Note that Pearson lists this as: GSE 59 B2 …
going | have | need | want + TO BE + past participle Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, there are two points in the category of Modality at B2 which are practically the same. Point 147 is: ‘must’ the question form. Point 161 is: ‘must’ to ask about obligation and necessity. For example: I began to wonder, why must it be so binary? TED What sort of talents must we be sure to defend? TED An iWeb cluster search for must …
There are three negative points in the English Grammar Profile at C2 Modality that are quite rare. Point 215 is defined as: negative form ‘ought not to’ Point 226: CONTRACTED NEGATIVE ‘oughtn’t’ (without ‘to’) + verb Point 235 ‘ought’ + subject + ‘not to’ + verb to form (rhetorical) questions, often in formal contexts. *Point …
In the English Grammar Profile (EGP), there are three similar points in the category of Future expressions with ‘BE’ at B2 in the English Grammar Profile. 47 ‘be due to’ and, more formally, ‘be to’ talk about things that are scheduled or expected. 53 OBLIGATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS WITH ‘BE TO’ 56 present form of ‘be’ …
Let’s look at an example of ‘should be ing‘ in student writing: In Korea, it is so common that women should be looking for a job after divorce. PELIC Korean female level 4 writing. ‘Should’ can express obligation or expectation. ‘Should’ can be used with a continuous form: Should be + lookING In the English Grammar Profile at B2, there are 3 points covering ‘should + continuous form’. Points …
SHOULD BE + verb ING ‘She should be looking for a job’ Read More »
The B1 / B2 divide seems to have many clashing or repeated points when locating forms. This post introduces another. The B2 points 153 in the category of MODALITY “be supposed to” to talk about expectation or obligation, and point 130 also in MODALITY ” be supposed to’ to talk about hearsay or supposition clashes …
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 151 in MODALITY “be forced to’ is used to talk about an unnamed obligation, where the circumstances are beyond the control of the speaker/writer. I was interested to see what some of the stand-out infinitives would be with this structure. On the iWeb corpus _vb* forced to _v?i* …
