Point 16 in the category of QUESTIONS is defined as: ‘RIGHT’ AS AN INFORMAL TAG in informal contexts. A search in iWeb for: * * , right ? 1 I KNOW , RIGHT ? 1260 2 MAKES SENSE , RIGHT ? 866 3 PRETTY COOL , RIGHT ? 735 National Law Review New Jersey […]
In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 32 in the category of QUESTIONS is defined as: ‘Wh-‘questions as a focusing device, often in a narrative or argument. For example: Why does this matter? Things have changed. Can’t we just get over it and move on? Right? But I would argue, for me certainly, learning this
WH- questions (focusing) Read More »
Point 31 in the category of QUESTIONS is defined as: alternative questions using an extreme alternative to give greater pragmatic force. This grammar requires manual interpretation, so it is not really something we can automatically find in corpora. There is only one example in the EGP (the fact that there is only one means it
or (STRONG ALTERNATIVE) Read More »
C1 English Grammar Profile point 30 in the category of QUESTIONS is defined as: alternative questions with two clauses and ellipsis (of the modal) in the second clause, often as a hedging device. *Both of the English Grammar Profile examples contain ‘maybe’ and do not invert as questions usually do. They both seem like weak
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In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 36 in the category of PRESENT/simple is NEGATIVE QUESTIONS to check opinions. A search in iWeb for do|does _XX _P * * 1 DO N’T YOU THINK? 5683 2 DOES N’T IT ? 2857 3 DO N’T YOU WANT TO 1768 4 DO N’T YOU THINK THAT 1536 5 DO
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Point 35 in PRESENT continuous is defined as: question forms to ask rhetorical questions. For example, the first three questions asked the speaker does not expect an answer. So we said that we have seven million deaths caused by air pollution every year. Are we panicking? Are we keeping calm? Are we declaring a national
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English Grammar Profile C1 point 81 in the category of PAST/simple is defined as: ‘yes/no’, ‘wh-‘, tag and negative question forms with a wide range of verbs. *This is more about vocabulary than grammar. We have tried to cover this same topic also here. However, we’ll attempt to focus on what is C1 in this
past simple questions (with a wide range of verbs) Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 201 in MODALITY is defined as ‘used to’ QUESTIONS For example: The New York Times What problem did you use to have but now have licked? 19 Nov 2020 The following list does not specify whether or not it is basic past simple with the more common infinitive of purpose. It must
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In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 194 in MODALITY is defined as: ‘might’ QUESTIONS For example: How might you mark up the diagram to figure out what to do next? iWeb doesn’t allow us variable-length queries so the best we can do is: might _P * * * 1 MIGHT YOU BE ABLE TO 191 2 MIGHT IT BE POSSIBLE TO 132 3 MIGHT I BE
In the English Grammar Profile, C1 point 198 in MODALITY is defined as: ‘dare’ question form A search in iWeb for: Dare _P _VVI 1 DARE I SAY 8113 2 DARE WE SAY 1864 3 DARE YOU SAY 226 4 DARE I ASK 195 5 DARE I SUGGEST 157 6 DARE I MENTION 118 7
Example: “Will you have achieved your goals by the end of the year?” The future perfect simple is formed by using the auxiliary verb “will” followed by the subject, then “have” and the past participle of the main verb. In this case, the main verb is “achieved,” which is the past participle form of “achieve.”
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Question tags are short phrases added at the end of a statement to transform it into a question or to seek confirmation or agreement from the listener. There are no prizes for telling us what the problems are, are there? TED The following example show that native speakers do not always use the correct form of ‘BE’: Yeah, there’s only two options here, isn’t there? TED There are only two options here, aren’t
This post is another one where the English Grammar Profile has clashing proficiency levels associated with a point and in the examples. Here we are looking at the category of QUESTIONS. It is understandable that usage is what is different, but the examples could be better selected: B2 Point 29: ‘wh-‘words + the negative form
WH – negative question Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 28 in the category of QUESTIONS is defined as: affirmative or negative tag after an imperative clause to soften the imperative. *Some examples don’t seem to soften but instead add a touch of sarcasm. iWeb corpus doesn’t allow searching for such a complex string. We can start with
imperative clause + question tag Read More »
Here is an example of a past perfect simple question: What had I done to deserve it? TED Past perfect simple questions are formed by putting had before the subject and the past participle of the verb. They are used to ask about an action or event that happened before another past action or event, or before a specific time in the
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B2 Point 57 in the category of past and perfect simple is defined as: REPORTS OF QUESTIONS where the main verb in the reporting clause is in the past simple. *However, only by investigating the rest of the EGP do we discover that there is an B1 point that clashes here for yes-no questions in
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Point 52 at B2 in the category of PAST simple QUESTIONS is defined as: yes/no’, ‘wh-‘, tag and negative question forms with an increasing range of verbs. There is great confusion trying to differentiate this across levels from other points on the EGP. *Point 63 Past simple negative wide range of verbs and point 29
past simple questions – range Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 51 in the category of PAST and present perfect simple is defined as: question form with an increasing range of verbs. For example: How much sleep have they actually lost? TED Looking for variable-length questions on iWeb is always a hard task. Here is only one set pattern that finds some. Note that we
present perfect simple questions + increasing range of verbs Read More »
‘WH-‘ questions expect a reply that supplies information. The wh-word can be a pronoun: What made you think that? (listen to this question) adverb: Where did it go? (listen) or a determiner: Which part? (listen) A search for the most common questions in the iWeb corpus with: _ddq _v _p _v ? 1 WHAT DO YOU THINK? (‘what’
Negative questions with the modal verb “can’t” are used to ask for permission or confirmation in a polite or surprised way. For example:
Can’t we go to the park today? (asking for permission)
Can’t you see I’m busy? (expressing surprise)
To form a negative question with “can’t”, we put “can’t” before the subject and the main verb after the subject. For example:
Can’t + you + see?
Can’t + we + go?
