“ALL ABOUT” is used to describe the purpose or an aspect of something. (OXFORD B1)
For example ‘Some days, we forgot all about getting to Italy.’ ‘It’s all about the money.’
2 ALL ABOUT MAKING 4081
3 ALL ABOUT WINNING 1859
4 ALL ABOUT GIVING 1851
5 ALL ABOUT CREATING 1801
6 ALL ABOUT FINDING 1480
7 ALL ABOUT TAKING 1397
8 ALL ABOUT TRYING 1340
9 ALL ABOUT PUTTING 1279
10 ALL ABOUT KEEPING 1279
ALL ABOUT + noun phrase Read More »
We‘re keeping an open mind about the causes of the fire. listen A search in NOW corpus for: _VV _AT _JJ _NN _RP *note that particles and prepositions are sometimes incorrectly tagged. 1 TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT 761 (C1) You didn’t take the easy way out. listen 2 VISITED THE RIVAL NATION IN 734 3 TAKING THE EASY WAY OUT 465 4 KEEP
lexical verb + article + adjective + noun + particle | preposition 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
frightened = feeling fear or worry. To find the frequency of prepositions that come after the adjective frightened, we can search in iWeb corpus for: frightened _I We have added example sentences containing frightened preposition: 1 FRIGHTENED OF 4688 What have you got to be frightened of? listen 2 FRIGHTENED BY 4585 People are frightened by the way that I look, especially children. listen 3 FRIGHTENED AT 703
frightened + PREPOSITION Read More »
Male raptors are about one-third the size of females. CSMonitor A search in iWeb for _MF _A _N 1 1/2 A CUP 770 2 1/2 THE PRICE 663 3 1/2 AN HOUR 655 4 1/2 AN INCH 593 5 1/3 THE PRICE 543 6 1/2 THE TIME 386 7 ONE-THIRD THE SIZE 377 8 1/3 THE SIZE 370 9
fractions as predeterminers Read More »
At B1, in the English Vocabulary Profile, IT + BE + time + TO infinitive clause = something should happen: Is it time to go home yet? listen It was time to get back to work. listen Similarly, at C1, ‘time‘ can be premodified: I think it’s about time to make a deal. listen I think it is high time for me to get out of my house while I‘m still alive. Insidious: Chapter 3 At
would rather | it’s time + CLAUSE Read More »
A2
– too + adjective + prepositional phrase
– adjective phrases with a very limited range of adjectives + a prepositional phrase
In the English Grammar Profile, in the category of modifying ADJECTIVES, there is an overlap between the two points above. The EGP examples for range are:
… good for my body
… full of people
TOO adjective + prepositional phrase Read More »
Here are examples of reported speech with relative clauses ending with stranded prepositions: He told me the company he works for. She requested that I give him all the information he asks for. He exclaimed that this is the best festival he has been to. This type of construction is considered informal and is often discouraged in formal writing. However, it is commonly used in spoken English and in informal writing. Profiling Research This post is about two points in the English Grammar
STRANDED PREPOSITION Read More »
Fixed expressions are phrases that have a specific meaning and are often used in spoken language. For example, “at the end of the day” or “all in all”.
When we put a fixed expression in the front position of a sentence, we create a focus on it. This means we want to emphasize or highlight the meaning of the expression.
At the end of the day (FOCUS EXPRESSIONS) Read More »
The word ‘just’ is most often used as a general adverb. Here are a few examples that showcase its usage in this context: “He’s just a beginner in playing the piano.” In this sentence, ‘just’ is used to convey that the person is only a beginner and implies a sense of being at the early
Following a lexical verb with a degree adverb is possible but much rarer than following a lexical verb with a preposition and a little rarer than following a lexical verb with a general adverb. Here we have kept the results with _VV _RG 11 TAKES ABOUT 36989 All in all, the process takes about a month, give or take. listen 12 LOOKS VERY 34563
lexical verb + degree adverb Read More »
In this post, we do a search in the iWeb corpus for how ‘about’ is tagged: 1 ABOUT (II) 22037137 simple preposition * * about_II * * 1 YOU THINK ABOUT IT, 14959 If you think about it, we‘re constantly coming out to people, so really you should be good at it. listen 2 DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. 10723 3 . ABOUT THE AUTHOR 9220 4 . ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Collins lists the ‘about to‘ structure under adjectives, pointing out that there is no future tense in English. There are many ways we refer to the future in English. The structure means ‘very soon‘. There are 3 almost identical B2 points in the category of FUTURE in the English Grammar Profile that could all be
BE + about + to-INFINITIVE Read More »
