There is no entry in the English Grammar Profile for the continuous infinitive passive. Therefore, we say this is a C2 grammar structure. A search in NOW corpus for: * to be being * 1 BELIEVED TO BE BEING HELD 18 The following example has past passive + infinitive + continuous passive: The driver of the lorry was believed to be being held by police. […]
Here’s an example of indefinite pronouns as subjects in two clauses with singular verbs: Nobody wants to help when something goes wrong. Point 39 in the category of PRONOUNS/indefinite is defined as: increasing range of indefinite pronouns (‘something’, ‘nobody’) as subjects, with a singular verb. *Remember the inflectional -s at the end of a verb indicates that the verb is the
SOMETHING | NOBODY + singular verb Read More »
Point 57 in the category of PRONOUNS/possessive is defined as: yours with singular reference in subject position. FOR EXAMPLE: The world needs every voice and perspective, and yours is included. A search in iWeb for: yours _VV 1 YOURS LOOKS 1874 2 YOURS LOOK 1099 3 YOURS SOUNDS 428 4 YOURS SEEMS 380 5 YOURS TURNED 346 6 YOURS STAND 340 7 YOURS CAME
An adjective phrase can consist of an adverb + adjective. In the following examples: ‘obvious‘ and ‘unlikely‘ are the head of the adjective phrases. Needless to say, Ares’ negotiating position was hugely strengthened when it became painfully obvious to everyone that the giant US asset manager was the only bidder that had bothered to turn up at the auction. traveller.com.au Therefore, all 42 Sinn Fein candidates would likely have to be elected to the 160-seat chamber to give it a shot at emerging as the largest party, an outcome which remains highly unlikely. express.co.uk The adverbs ‘painfully’ and ‘highly’ are used here to emphasize. C1
adverb + adjective (emphasis) Read More »
This is another grammar post that is better dealt with as vocabulary. In the English Grammar Profile (EGP), A2 point 25 in VERBs/patterns is defined: increasing range of verbs followed by a ‘to’-infinitive. The EGP A2 examples include: hope to go remember to bring (this clashes with the B2 point for a change of meaning verb
Verb + TO-infinitive (range) Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 50 in the category of VERBS is defined as: ‘there’ with other verbs with modal meaning + ‘be’ + complement. The EGP modality examples contain: ‘need, have, is going + to’ However, in the English Vocabulary Profile, ‘there needs to be’ is listed at C2 with the following example:
THERE + modality + TO BE Read More »
In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 92 in the category of PRONOUNS is defined as: full range of indefinite pronouns as subjects, with a singular verb. A search inWeb corpus for: . nothing|everybody|everywhere|anything _v *Not all the results are singular verbs. And PELIC B2 student examples: 1 . NOTHING IS 18676 Chinese, Male, level 4,
indefinite pronoun + singular verb Read More »
B2 PRONOUN
(SUBJECT) EMPTY ‘IT’ dummy ‘it’ with ‘appears’, ‘feels’, ‘looks’ and ‘seems’.
ENGLISH GRAMMAR PROFILE
It + appears | feels | looks | seems + CLAUSE Read More »
To get started, let’s look at some spoken student examples that show a wide range of linking verbs with very literal meanings: It‘s like a fairy tale because it doesn’t seem real. TLC female Mexico B1 To remain healthy, we have to exercise. TLC female India B1 The verbs ‘remain’ and ‘seem’ link the adjective complements: ‘real’ and ‘healthy’ in a more detailed way than
a wide range of linking verbs used in other complex ways Read More »
Which vocabulary to teach with ‘whose name’?
WHOSE NAME relative clause Read More »
