Had better is used to express a stronger warning or suggestion. It implies that there will be negative consequences if the advice is not followed. For example, you might say “You had better start studying now, or you’ll fail the test.”
HAD BETTER + bare infinitive Read More »
When “not” is used before an adverb, it typically forms a negative construction that modifies the action or verb it is associated with. This construction is used to indicate the absence or negation of the quality or manner expressed by the adverb. Next, we want to know the most common adverbs in this position, so
Here’s an example of the time phrase that means the person is at the age of 20-29: I‘m not even in my twenties anymore. NSFW This phrase is B2 in the English Vocabulary Profile: (be) in your eighties to be aged between 80 and 89 the eighties the years from 1980-1989 A search in iWeb corpus for: _I
preposition + determiner + plural numeral Read More »
In the English Vocabulary Profile, the adverbial phrase ‘at random’ is listed at C1 with the meaning: chosen by chance For example: So we‘ll choose one at random then. listen A collocate search in the iWeb corpus: 1 CHOSEN 4713 2 SELECTED 4295 3 TIMES 2328 4 DRAWN 1694 5 PICKED 1493 6 PICK 1155 7 WINNER 1068
‘your native language or tongue’ is B2 in the English Vocabulary Profile with the meaning: ‘the first language you learn.’ For example: Now, they speak English but it‘s not their native language, they‘d rather not speak English. TED A collocate search for _APPGE native language|tongue in COCA: 1 LANGUAGE 566 2 THEIR 412 3 TONGUE 3004 ENGLISH 80 5 SPEAK 53 6 SPEAKING 28 7 SPANISH
their native + language | tongue Read More »
‘in the long run’ is B2 in the English Vocabulary Profile with the meaning at a time that is far away in the future A search for collocates of ‘in the long run’ in the COCA: 1 MONEY 200 2 CHEAPER 58 3 EFFECTIVE 38 4 BENEFIT 30 5 SUSTAINABLE 27 6 SURVIVE 25 7
‘if you ask me’ is C2 in the English Vocabulary Profile and is used to give opinions. For example: And it‘s about damned time if you ask me. listen Collocations of ‘if you ask me’ in COCA show that this is used mostly to give negative opinions. 1 STUPID 10 2 NICELY 9 3 BS 6 4 DUMB
from time to time |
for the most part |
on the part of
4 part complex phrases Read More »
Here is a list from an iWeb corpus search for complex phrases tagged with: _*31 _*32 _*33 1 AS WELL AS 3933159 (complex prepositional phrase) This is also known as the as as stucture. I‘m gonna prescribe a regimen of vitamins as well as the mineral zinc, it‘ll build up your immune system. listen 2 IN ADDITION TO 1012418 (complex prepositional phrase) In addition to Naomi and my two perfect kids, I own a mansion, private jet, six cars, three horses, two vacation homes and a one hundred and seventy-foot yacht. listen 3 IN TERMS OF
3 part complex phrases Read More »
Here we rank by frequency the most common 2 part complex phrases. A search in iWeb for: _*21 _*22 1 OUT OF 6044503 II21 II22 = 2 part complex prepositional phrase Get out of here! listen 2 SUCH AS (II21 II22) 5449751 A search for collocates of ‘such as‘ in the COCA corpus: 1 ISSUES 3370
2 part complex phrases Read More »
These phrases can be used to add specific information about the time of an event or action. For example, the phrase “tomorrow morning” tells us that an event will happen the next day, in the morning.
A1 point 9 in the category of DETERMINERS is defined:
possessive determiners ‘my’, ‘your’, ‘his’, ‘her’ and ‘our’ before nouns.
my | your | his | her | our + NOUN Read More »
At C2, in the English Vocabulary Profile, the INFORMAL phrase ‘so much for’ + noun phrase is defined: used to say that something has not been useful or successful The Cambridge dictionary: used to express disappointment at the fact that a situation is not as you thought it was A search in COCA 1 .
so much for (informal) Read More »
Here are 4 examples in two sentences for the structure ‘adjective + OF + object’: To the best of my knowledge, it is free of charge. You are aware of the fact that I am proud of you. Here are the most common adjectives in this structure: best: 45 aware: 20 free: 10 proud: 4 An iWeb search for: _JJ of * * * 1 BEST OF BOTH WORLDS.
adjective + OF + something Read More »
Here’s a student example of a determiner + uncountable noun: My teacher told me “enjoy the music and you will dance naturally.” PELIC Taiwanese female level 3 writing class A2 point 18 in the category of NOUNS is defined: form simple noun phrases by pre-modifying nouns with an increasing range of determiners. A2 point 24 in the category of NOUNS: form
determiner + noun phrase (increasing range) Read More »
It is easy to find noun phrases functioning as a subject-predicate in a clause. For example, “I was a kid.” ‘a kid’ is a noun phrase after the copular verb ‘was.’ An iWeb search for: _P _VB _A _NN . 1 I WAS A KID . 7523 2 I WAS A CHILD . 2942 3
noun phrase (subject predicative) Read More »
Using noun phrases as objects of the clause helps provide more information about the action or state described by the verb in a sentence. It helps answer questions about the direct recipients of the verb’s action or the entities affected by it.
noun phrase (direct object) Read More »
Here is an example of a longer noun phrase as the subject of a sentence: The rest of the time is spent in classes. spectator.org Not all of these will be the subject of the sentence… A search in iWeb corpus for . _A _N _I _A 1 . THE REST OF THE 36076 COCA 1 . THE REST OF THE
noun phrase (subject) Read More »
In this post, we are interested in discovering the most common noun phrases that follow the adjective + noun + preposition + noun pattern. It was a short period of time. In the above example, the noun ‘period‘ is the head noun of the noun phrase. A search in iWeb for _JJ _NN _I _NN
adjective + noun + preposition + noun (noun phrases) Read More »
In English grammar, “there is” and “there are” are commonly used to indicate the existence or presence of something.
“There is” is used when the noun following it is singular. For example, “There is a book on the table.”
“There are” is used when the noun following it is plural. For example, “There are many books on the shelf.”
These phrases can be used in various tenses by adjusting the form of the verb “be”. For instance, you could say “There was a time when I was everything to you,” using the past tense. However, this usage is typically considered more advanced and may be classified as A2 level in some learning resources.
THERE + is | are | was | were Read More »
